The boss of UK pub chain Wetherspoon today mocked critics who had forecast economic disaster in the event of Brexit - and called on the government to scrap trade talks.
Tim Martin, founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoon, was a vocal Brexit supporter and "Leave" campaign donor in the run-up to Britain's shock June 23 referendum to leave the European Union.
He even printed special anti-EU beer mats for punters.
London-listed JD Wetherspoon is one of the country's biggest pub chains, with almost 1,000 pubs and around 35,000 employees.
Many experts during the referendum campaign "forecast trouble, often in lurid terms, for the economy, in the event of the Leave vote," Martin said in the firm's results statement.
"Now that the gloomy economic forecasts for the immediate aftermath of the referendum have been proven to be false, 'Scare Story 2' is that failure to agree on a trade deal with the EU will have devastating consequences."
So far, most economic indicators have indicated that the British economy is faring better than thought following the Brexit vote, although recent manufacturing data showed a slump in activity in July.
Wetherspoon reported that pre-tax profit rose 3.6% to £80.6m in the group's 2015/2016 financial year ending July 24.
Revenues swelled 5.4% to almost £1.6 billion.
Martin, who owns 29% of the pub company he founded in 1979, also argued that Britain did not need a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.
"Common sense suggests that the worst approach for the UK is to insist on the necessity of a 'deal' - we don't need one and the fact that EU countries sell us twice as much as we sell them creates a hugely powerful negotiating position," he wrote.
Martin was a major funder of the official Vote Leave campaign, donating £200,000 to the cause.
However, he did disagree on one of their key policies - cutting the immigration of EU workers - arguing that Britain has benefited from migration from European countries.
An estimated 5% of his 35,000 staff are from other parts of the European Union.
Meanwhile, UK pub operator Greene King said that trading conditions could get tougher following Britain's decision in June to leave the European Union.
"While the broader implications remain unclear, a number of recent industry surveys have flagged risks to leisure spend and we are alert to a potentially tougher trading environment ahead," the company said in a statement.
The company said like-for-like sales grew by 1.7% for the first 18 weeks of the year, helped by European Football Championships and better weather.
In June, the company had flagged concerns that Brexit would weigh on consumer spending.
