Pub group confirms axing 1,300 workers

A pub chain which has five sites in Tayside and Fife has confirmed it sacked 1,300 staff in the last two months.

Mitchells & Butlers laid bare the extent of the recent redundancies as annual results showed a loss of £123 million compared to a £ 177m pre-tax profit the previous year.

The job losses by the owner of Harvester and Vintage Inns have been made since the end of the chain’s financial year at the end of September.

The firm’s sites include Weavers Mill in Dundee, The Fettykil Fox in Leslie, Harvester Halbeath Park in Dunfermline and two locations in Perth – The Glover Arms and The Broxden Manor.

The firm said: “Despite our best efforts to protect as many jobs as we can, we have had to make circa 1,300 redundancies following the end of the financial period.

“The reduced levels of activity and closure of a small number of our sites meant that we could no longer suppor t these roles.

“The future will remain both challenging and highly uncertain with the duration and depth of the trading restrictions imposed on the h o s p i t a l i ty sector in response to the Covid-19 pandemic being, in the first instance, the primary determinant of our financial performance.”

Mitchells swung into the red after full- year revenues slumped 34% to £1.5 billion and it said total sales since the end of September have plunged 50.8%, due largely to the latest lockdown.

Earlier this month, the firm said it would close up to 20 of its locations.

Fettykil Fox in Leslie is owned by Mitchells & Butlers.