HITCHIN: The JD Wetherspoon pub chain boss - which includes an establishment in our town - has slammed PM Boris Johnson for 'hypocrisy' around the Partygate scandal.

Run by chairman and founder Tim Martin, which includes Hitchin's Angel Vaults on Sun Street Wetherspoon has criticised the government's deceit when hosting booze parties at No10 - while public restrictions forced pub sales to drop substantially.

Wetherspoon directed its ire at the government over Partygat" with Mr Martin saying: "There would have been a number of advantages for the nation" if pubs had been open on 20 May 2020, the date the beleaguered Johnson attended a bring your own booze party in the garden of Downing Street - a move criticised by Hitchin MP Bim Afolami.

Ironically Hitchin's Wetherspoon was on the site of the old Hitchin Conservative Club on Sun Street before it was revamped and called Angel Vaults when it came under the control of the national pub chain.

The name acknowledges the medieval inn, The Angel Vaults, from which the road Angel Street was called – now Sun Street. The name came from a shortlist of suggestions by the Hitchin Historical Society prior to the Wetherspoon opening in our town back in 2014.

At the time of opening, the Angel Vaults' Inn sported a possessive apostrophe in the name, but, after uproar from local grammarians, the company removed the offending apostrophe, as you can see from our picture.

Wetherspoon also said the latest plan B restrictions brought in at the start of the Omicron wave had depressed sales over the crucial festive holidays in the hospitality sector for a second year in a row.

"The uncertainty created by the introduction of plan B Covid-19 measures makes predictions for sales and profits hazardous," Mr Martin said.

"The company will be loss-making in the first half of the financial year, but hopes that, with the ending of restrictions, improved customer confidence and better weather, it will have a much stronger performance in the second half."