JD Wetherspoon joins Institute of Licensing

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon has joined the Institute of Licensing.

The Institute aims to develop, recognise and promote best practice on licensing for both the public and private arenas.

The move to join the Institute by JD Wetherspoon may be considered surprising given its reluctance to join other trade associations in the past.

However, JDW boss Tim Martin has always kept a sharp eye on licensing developments and has been at the forefront of a number of developments in the pub industry such as early opening for breakfast and introducing no smoking pubs before the ban.

"We all have a vested interest in making the system operate consistently and efficiently and that can only achieved by stakeholders working in partnership," said Wetherspoon head of licensing and regulatory law Nigel Connor.

"As a forum for dialogue, the Institute of Licensing allows those partnerships to be forged."

Institute chair, Philip Kolvin QC, added: "I hope that increasingly the Institute will become a forum of all stakeholders in the leisure economy."

Earlier this week, the Institute announced CGA chief executive and Noctis chairman Jon Collins was to take up the role of vice-chairman.