1,100 Pizza Express job losses on menu in new High St blow
PIZZA Express and Currys PC World yesterday became the latest High Street chains to announce hundreds of jobs were under threat.
It came as experts warned the coronavirus pandemic was pushing many businesses to the brink, with customer numbers still dramatically below prelockdown levels.
Pizza Express is to close 67 restaurants, putting 1,100 roles at risk, while Dixons Carphone, which owns Currys PC World, has said it will slash 800 store-management jobs.
On Monday tour operator Hays Travel – which last year bought 555 Thomas Cook shops – announced it was cutting up to 878 jobs out of a total workforce of 4,500.
After the collapse of sports retailer DW Sports, the latest announcements take the tally of jobs put at risk this week alone to nearly 4,500.
In a further sign of the damage Covid-19 is doing to the economy, BP yesterday slashed its prized dividend in half after plunging to a record loss of £13.5billion.
BP’s payout to investors is usually among the biggest made by a British blue-chip company and is a crucial source of income for pension funds.
Investors will now receive £850million for the period of April to June – down from £1.7billion for January to March.
The job losses at Pizza Express and Dixons come after High Street stalwarts Marks & Spencer, Boots and John Lewis also revealed plans to close shops and shed more than 6,000 staff between them.
Yesterday Richard Hyman, an independent retail analyst who advises top chains, warned the cuts were ‘just the tip of the iceberg’. He said: ‘Because of Government support measures, we have gone through a very artificial period in recent months where the bulk of business costs – wages, store rents, business rates – have been suspended.
‘But that cannot continue for ever and so the businesses going to the wall and those announcing job cuts – that is just the tip of the iceberg.
‘The real pressure and damage has not even kicked in yet. For example, you have got the jobs furlough scheme ending in October.
‘That is going to be absolutely massive, because the reality is that many of the people who have been placed on it will not have a job to go back to. We are in for a very rough ride.’
The British Beer and Pub Association, which represents brewers and pubs, warned yesterday that more than one-third of pubs in the
UK cannot break even one month after reopening.
The finding, from a survey of the group’s members, came exactly a month after pubs in England reopened on July 4 after lockdown.
About a quarter of pubs also said they didn’t feel their business was sustainable beyond the end of
March 2021 under present conditions, despite the launch of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out discount meal scheme on Monday.
When lockdown measures were announced on March 23, most retailers were forced to close unless they sold essential goods such as food. The national shutdown prompted many stuck indoors to turn to online shopping, with internet retailers such as Amazon reporting a boom in sales.
When non-essential shops were allowed to reopen from June 15, surveys showed that visitor numbers remained more than 60 per cent lower than before the pandemic.
The Centre for Retail Research, which tracks job losses and store closures, now predicts the turmoil could see retail redundancies exceed 235,000 this year – potentially making it the worst on record since 2009.
The think-tank said: ‘Many companies in a better financial position will not go bust but have to rationalise their store portfolios.
Moreover, the massive peak in online sales whilst physical shops have been shuttered presents greater problems for British high streets because many shoppers will not return.’
Boots has axed 4,000 jobs and closed 48 stores, blaming the ‘significant impact’ of Covid-19, while John Lewis shut eight large stores, putting 1,300 employees at risk.
Fast food chain Burger King also announced it would shutter one in ten outlets, jeopardising 1,600 positions.
Another 5,000 jobs have gone at retailers Cath Kidston, Laura Ashley, Harveys furniture store, Monsoon, Accessorize and Harrods.
‘Many shoppers will not return’