Pret Itsu founder faces Twitter backlash after lockdown comments
Julian Metcalfe, the founder of Pret and Itsu, has hit out at a second UK coronavirus lockdown.
Another one would be impossible, he told The Daily Mail, adding: “Society will not recover if we do it again to save a few thousand lives of very old or vulnerable people.”
He added: “The young people of this country will be paying for this for the next 20 to 30 years. It's terrible what's happening. Just because France does this with its socialist government, doesn't mean we have to.”
This, somewhat unsurprisingly, went down like a lead balloon in the Twitterverse.
Last word to Pret, who posted the following message on its social media channels this morning.
“We are aware of Julian Metcalfe’s comments this morning, but he has not run the business for over ten years and we do not agree with his opinion. We at Pret strongly believe we must take steps to stop the spread of the virus and tackle the new wave of infections.”