Pub landlord lambasts Ryanair boss over 'ridiculous' call to ban pre-flight alcohol

A pub landlord has launched a scathing attack on the boss of Ryanair over his call to ban pre-flight alcohol at airports.

Speaking to GB News, boss of the Old Thatch in Wimborne, Andy Lennox hit out at Michael O'Leary, declaring that "saving British pubs" is "more important".

Mr O'Leary has called for a ban on early morning alcohol sales at airport bars, warning that pre-flight drinking is driving a surge in disruptive passenger behaviour.

He told The Times: "I fail to understand why anybody in airports bars is serving people at five or six o'clock in the morning. Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?

"There should be no alcohol served at airports outside [those] licensing hours."

Wetherspoons founder Sir Tim Martin has hit back at Ryanair's chief executive and criticised the "Big Brother policing" of alcohol in airports, warning that this could lead to passengers being breathalised in an "authoritarian overreach".

Backing Sir Tim's response, Mr Lennox told GB News: "I think it's a bit ridiculous. When you're going on holiday, people want to be able to have a couple of beers and or have a glass of wine before they fly.

"I think Tim is right, and he's trying to basically just kind of diffuse the situation and try and make sure that everyone's talking about what really matters at the moment, the fact that two to three pubs are closing every day."

Mr Lennox argued that people "do not need to be controlled" and the majority of passengers can restrict their alcohol intake.

He told GB News: "We don't need to control people's drinking, and we don't need to control people. It's this big brother approach which we don't need, and we don't need Government to get involved.

"We don't need people to tell us what to do all the time, we just need to get out there and have a good time and enjoy ourselves."

The landlord made clear that one of the key issues affecting the industry is VAT, something which Sir Tim has been campaigning for "for years now".

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Mr Lennox said: "We need to talk about the really big things, which is cutting VAT in line with those European levels, which is why everyone's flying away abroad to these places.

"There's a lot more things going on at the moment, like saving the pubs and saving the hospitality sector in this country and getting VAT in line with Europe, these are more important things to be talking about."

He praised Sir Tim for being a "great defender" for the industry in light of Chancellor Rachel Reeves's tax hikes on publicans.

Mr Lennox told GB News: "He's always been a great, great voice. He's a great defender, and he's probably fought for VAT for decades.

"He's a really, really good publican at the end of the day."

Mr O’Leary has also claimed that Ryanair staff rarely serve passengers more than two alcoholic drinks during flights.

He said: "We are reasonably responsible but the ones who are not responsible, the ones who are profiteering off it, are the airports who have these bars open at five or six o'clock in the morning and during delays are quite happy to send these people as much alcohol as they want because they know they're going to export the problem to the airlines.

"We have been calling for many years for a limit of two drinks per person per airport - why don't you limit people by boarding pass?"