John Lewis boss: ‘France is sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat … it’s finished’

John Lewis’s managing director has described France as “sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat” and advised British entrepreneurs doing business in the country to pull out.

Andy Street said France was “finished”, adding: “I have never been to a country more ill at ease … nothing works and nobody cares about it.”

He made his comments, reported in the Times, at an event in London marking the end of a John Lewis competition for startup companies. Earlier this week he was in Paris to pick up a retail award for his company.

He told the gathering of entrepreneurs that the award was “made of plastic and is frankly revolting”.

“If I needed any further evidence of a country in decline, here it is. Every time I [see it], I shall think, God help France,” he said.

Street advised his audience: “If you’ve got investments in French businesses, get them out quickly.” The eurozone’s second largest economy is struggling for growth under president François Hollande and the country is not budgeting to come within the EU’s 3% budget deficit target until 2017. The French economy has been hampered by low growth and poor tax receipts in recent years.

Street also branded the Gare du Nord in Paris “the squalor pit of Europe”, in contrast to London’s revamped St Pancras station at the other end of the Eurostar line.

A John Lewis spokeswoman said Street’s remarks were “tongue in cheek and not meant to be taken seriously”.

Street is the most senior executive at John Lewis, the employee-owned chain of department stores and Waitrose supermarkets. The group plans to open a French-language version of its website, allowing customers to pay in euros for all goods offered online in the UK.

Street is not the first British executive to make undiplomatic comments in off-guard moments. In 2000, Christopher Gent, the then chief executive of Vodafone, deployed a German accent while watching a cricket match to describe the head of takeover target Mannesmann as being “more into German poetry and chess”.

In 2010, Sir Alan Sugar offended Nigeria’s high commission when he told a contestant on The Apprentice that he received a dubious business offer from Nigeria that did not materialise.