New meltdown on high street: Pret axes 2,800 as takings crash
‘Gutted we have to lose so many’
PRET a Manger is cutting 2,800 jobs amid warnings that city centres are turning into ‘ghost towns’.
The sandwich shop chain says it has suffered a 60 per cent slump in takings compared with a year ago, which means fewer employees are needed.
It is also cutting its stores’ opening hours to reflect the fact that footfall in towns, city centres and transport hubs has collapsed.
A further 1,000 jobs have been saved after the staff involved agreed to move to a shorter working week.
The move comes against the background of warnings from the director general of the CBI, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, that the UK Government must do more to get Britons back to the office.
She told the Daily Mail yesterday: ‘It’s time for the UK to bring its workplaces back to life or we will look back with regret at the jobs lost, training missed and communities harmed.
‘We ask the Government to work with business to build confidence in returning to offices, starting now.’
High streets and other sectors of the economy have seen a job loss hurricane in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, Gatwick airport cut 600 jobs. Elsewhere, Rolls-Royce announced it would close its site in Annesley, Nottinghamshire, weeks after announcing 9,000 aerospace staff cuts. Restaurant chain Wahaca is to close ten restaurants and BMW announced the loss of 400 jobs at its Mini car factory in Oxford.
Official figures suggest that 730,000 people lost their jobs between March and July.
Economists have warned the number of people out of work could rise to nearly four million by the end of the year.
Pret, which has already announced 30 store closures, said customer numbers have started to recover, however, sales over the past month were back to the levels seen ten years ago, when it was a much smaller business.
Trade across its 367 UK shops remains around 60 per cent down year on year. Weekly sales for Pret UK are averaging around £5million – the level they were at in August 2010.
Alongside the 2,800 reductions in shops, a further 90 roles have been cut in Pret’s support centre teams. Chief executive Pano Christou said: ‘I’m gutted that we’ve had to lose so many colleagues. Although we’re now starting to see a steady but slow recovery, the pandemic has taken away almost a decade of growth at Pret.
‘We’ve managed to protect many jobs by making changes to the way we run our shops and the hours we ask team members to work.
‘I’m hopeful we’ll be able to review all these changes now that trade is improving again, and I’m encouraged by the improvements we’re seeing every week.’ He added: ‘We’ll soon be announcing a number of big changes to help bring Pret to more people. We’re grateful to the Government for the support they’ve given our sector, and hope that support will continue as long as possible to give Pret time to adjust.’
Despite the reduction in trade, Pret is maintaining a larger number of staff than ten years ago.
This is because it hopes recent sales growth of around 7 per cent per week will continue.
Pret will be left with 6,000 employees after the cuts, against around 4,500 in 2010.