The outspoken chairman of pub chain JD Wetherspoon used his company's half-year report to rant that business groups and the media have painted an unnecessarily gloomy picture of Britain's prospects outside the EU.

Yet Tim Martin, a prominent Brexit campaigner, struck a more wary note when referring to the immediate future of his pub group, despite reporting growing sales and profits.

JD Wetherspoon, which employs about 1,000 people across 22 pubs in Kent, increased revenues by 4% to £830.4 million in the six months to the end of January, while posting a 6% jump in like-for-like sales.

The business made an underlying pre-tax profit of £62 million, up by a fifth, but Mr Martin warned the company "remains cautious about the second half of the year".

He cited higher costs including pay, taxes and utilities bills.

He also admitted he expects growth in like-for-like sales "will be lower in the next six months".

Mr Martin said that "slightly better-than-expected year-to-date sales" meant the firm had not changed its full-year expectations.

Operating profit grew by 14% to £74 million and the company kept its interim dividend at 4p.

Talking about Brexit, Mr Martin said it was a "fallacy" to suggest the larger EU would be able to withstand a Mexican standoff more capably than the UK.

He said: "Wetherspoon is one of the biggest customers, or possibly the biggest customer, of the excellent Swedish cider-maker Kopparberg.

"If trade barriers were imposed, so as to make Kopparberg uneconomic, then Wetherspoon could switch to UK suppliers or those from elsewhere in the world.

"In this case, the principal losers in a trade war would be the inhabitants of a small town in Sweden, where Kopparberg is produced, rather than the UK economy.

"Unfortunately for the Swedes, the EU negotiators, unlike those of the UK, are not subject to judgement at the ballot box, so Kopparberg's influence on the outcome may be minimal."