John Lewis, that most British of retail institutions, has apologised for comments made by its managing director who described France as “finished” as a country and Gare du Nord station in Paris as the “squalor pit of Europe”, reports The Financial Times.
In a speech in which he advised entrepreneurs with assets in France to “get them out quickly”, Andy Street described the nation as “sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat”.
“I have never been to a country more ill at ease . . . nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it.”
The comments, first reported by The Times, were made at an awards dinner in Canary Wharf on Wednesday night, after Mr Street was delayed coming back from a conference in Paris on the Eurostar.
“You get on the Eurostar from something I can only describe as the squalor pit of Europe, Gare du Nord, and you get off in a modern, forward looking station [St Pancras],” he said, adding that he thought the food and drink at the London event were better than those he had received in Paris.
On Friday morning, John Lewis said that Mr Street would not be issuing an apology for the comments, which it said were “made in a tongue-in-cheek context”. But by lunchtime, as the story erupted on social media and began to be reported in the French press, Mr Street changed his mind.
“The remarks I made were supposed to be light-hearted views, and tongue in cheek. On reflection I clearly went too far. I regret the comments, and apologise unreservedly,” he said in a statement.
“He was delayed and had a rather poor experience coming back through the Gare du Nord,” a company spokesperson added.
The retailer, a favourite of the British middle classes, has no stores in France but has plans to launch a French website denominated in euros.
Read more of this report from The Financial Times.