GLOUCESTER, United Kingdom: Belting out 1980s pop tunes on a tour bus travelling across the country, British pub chain boss Tim Martin launched a personal campaign this week to persuade his customers they have nothing to fear from a no-deal Brexit.

Just as Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to unite Britain behind a compromise Brexit deal, generally favoured by business leaders for avoiding uncertainty, Leave campaign donor Martin is bucking the trend.

“There’s a massive amount of disinformation from organisations that desperately want us to stay (in the EU) and have conned the public,” the mane-haired bar tycoon told AFP on the way to a tour stop at one of his pubs in western England.

Founder of the cut-price JD Wetherspoon bar franchise, Martin believes Britons have been misled by dire warnings about exiting the European Union without an agreement.

Ahead of a crunch December 11 vote in parliament on May’s deal with Brussels, the 64-year-old has decided to visit 100 of his nearly 900 watering holes to make his case.

“You’ve got to bypass the metropolitan media to get your message across,” Martin said aboard the luxury coach he chartered to carry him and a supportive bar staff around the country.

May has embarked on her own swing through Britain, while her government and the Bank of England have issued grim economic predictions on the country’s fortunes if it pursues the kind of hard Brexit favoured by Martin.

“It’s project bias,” he told AFP, adding that “massively pro-Remain” economists were just “putting numbers into a computer”.

Sitting in the front of the bus, he began singing a 1980s hit — “New Song” by Howard Jones — to make his point.

“See both sides, throw off your mental chains!” Martin sang.

Along with other ardent Brexiteers, the pub magnate argues that a no-deal Brexit would bring an economic boom because of Britain’s ability to strike trade deals around the world.

“Incomes will go up on day one,” he said.

Asked whether he was stockpiling products for a no-deal Brexit after government warnings, the Wetherspoon boss said he was not and did not know anyone in the trade who is.

Instead, he has already started selecting British or non-EU products for his pubs, for example, replacing popular German digestif Jagermeister with English herbal liqueur Strika.

“Our sales have gone up — so that’s proof that even very individualistic products... can be replaced without adverse economic consequences,” he added.

“A massive smokescreen has been put over that issue and that’s the main reason for the tour.”

Working the tables at Martin’s first stop — The Commercial Rooms in the southwest English city of Bristol — the company chairman was greeted more like a cult figure.

“You’re one of my heroes,” said retired office worker Liz Montgomery, 65.

The committed Leave voter told AFP she shared his dissatisfaction with May’s plan: “It’s just not good enough... she needs to step up.”

An hour’s drive north at a packed pub in Gloucester, some among the lunchtime crowd had come especially to meet the Wetherspoon founder — and not all of them were pro-Brexit.—AFP