THE boss of JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, has said the pub giant has witnessed no real effect on trade from the lower drink drive limit in Scotland.

And he revealed he has warned staff not to dwell on a change that has been blamed for falling sales in the Scottish licensed trade.

The independent licensed trade fears the reduction in the drink drive limit, introduced in December, will lead to more closures than the smoking ban, brought in nine years ago this month.

But Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin, whose company has more than 70 pubs in Scotland, believes there is a risk in blaming "external factors" on business performance.

Mr Martin was commenting as Wetherspoon unveiled a 4.1 per cent hike in first half pre-tax profits to £37.5 million in the 26 weeks ended January 25.

Asked if Wetherspoon had been affected by the lower drink drive limit, Mr Martin said: "I didn't really, no. I try to discourage our team from blaming those sorts of external factors, because it is dangerous for a business to blame too many external factors.

"To be fair, we are probably better positioned than most because our pubs tend to be bang in the middle of high streets. There is normally good public transport, there are normally about 20,000 people living within a mile."

Wetherspoon, which is on track to boost its Scottish estate with further openings in East Kilbride, Edinburgh and Largs, grew revenue by nine per cent to £744.4m.

Like for like sales grew by 4.5 per cent, the company reported.

Mr Martin said the first half had seen a "good effort by the chaps", while noting that sales had "tailed off in the second quarter a bit".

He highlighted that profits had come under pressure from increased competition from supermarkets, as well as higher pay and bonuses for pub staff.

Mr Martin also repeated his concern over the disparity between the rate of valued added tax (VAT) paid by pubs compared with supermarkets.

Wetherspoon is a high profile supporter of veteran French lobbyist Jacques Borel's campaign for a VAT reduction for the UK hospitality industry, which contends that a cut will lead to increased spend in bars, hotels and restaurants and in turn lead the industry to invest and take in staff.

Mr Martin said the campaign, which is backed by 55 brewers and hospitality companies, has been successful in raising awareness among ministers.

"Where we have done very well is [to have] convinced people generally that it is unfair to have harsher taxes, higher taxes for pubs than supermarkets.

"Whereas they [ministers] haven't reduced the VAT disparity, they have tacitly acknowledged the unfairness by reducing taxes on beer," he said. "The VAT campaign has been very important for making government and people realise just how heavily taxed pubs are. You can see it from our numbers there."

Asked if was anticipating a further cut in beer tax in Wednesday's Budget, Mr Martin quipped: "I've had a phone call Mystic Meg, who consults me on a number of issues.

"Even I have been unable to come up with a prediction on that one. I'm hopeful he (the Chancellor) will reduced excise duty, it would be very nice if he did."

Mr Martin said Wetherspoon was continuing to promote its outlets as a destination for breakfast and coffee. On Wednesday it will launch a fresh wave of competitive prices as it aims to triple coffee and breakfast sales over the next 18 months. Deals will see Lavazza filter coffee available, with free refills, for 99p between 8am and 2pm every day.

Wetherspoon now sells around 50 million Lavazza coffees and teas across its 942 pubs around the UK, adding that it now serves more breakfasts than Caffe Nero or Pret a Manger.

Mr Martin said the lower drink drive limit in Scotland has been introduced as people broadly drinking less alcohol. "We're trying to encourage people to think of us as a place for a coffee. It's always changing really - you're just trying to stay ahead of the wave."

Meanwhile, Wetherspoon is also looking to capitalise on the current craft beer boom. Brewdog's Punk IPA will be sold for £1.99 per 330ml bottle as it seeks to combat supermarket competition. Wetherspoon stocks Brewdog's This Is Lager in all of its pubs.

Shares in Wetherspoon closed down 31.5p at 780p.