“Despite our best efforts to protect as many jobs as we can, we have had to make redundancies”
A pub chain which has five sites in Tayside and Fife has confirmed it had 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.
Where are the Mitchells & Butlers site in Tayside and Fife?
- Weavers Mill, Campberdown Leisure Park, Dundee
- The Fettykil Fox, Leslie, Glenrothes
- The Glover Arms, Creiff Road, Perth
- The Broxden Manor, Broxden Avenue, Perth
- Harvester Halbeath Park, Dunfermline
Reasons for the job cuts
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 support these roles.”
The company added: “The future will remain both challenging and highly uncertain with the duration and depth of the trading restrictions imposed on the hospitality sector in response to the Covid-19 pandemic being, in the first instance, the primary determinant of our financial performance.
Closures
Mitchells swung into the red after full-year revenues plunged 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.
It said earlier this month that it was closing up to 20 of its pubs and restaurants and started redundancy consultations with staff, but did not at the time disclose how many roles were at risk.
Phil Urban, chief executive of Mitchells, said: “We remain optimistic that we will be able to regain the momentum previously built and continue to achieve sustained market outperformance when the current operating restrictions are eased.”
