Greene King to close 79 sites after curfew sees drop in trade

Pub giant Greene King is to close 79 sites with the loss of hundreds of jobs after seeing a drop in trade following the 10pm curfew.

It has launched a redundancy consultation process with 800 employees, Sky News reports.

The company, which operates around 2,750 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland, is understood to be looking to redeploy staff across the business where possible.

Around 25 sites are to close permanently, including 11 Loch Fyne Seafood restaurants.

Greene King said in a statement that continued trading restrictions meant it was “a challenge to reopen some of our pubs” and called on the government to step in to provide more sector-specific support.

It is not clear if the move will impact Greene King’s recent pledge to create 1,000 jobs for young people across a five-year partnership with The Prince’s Trust charity.

Pub groups have been hit hard by the curfew and tightening coronavirus restrictions. Earlier this month the CEO of Fuller’s predicted up to 10% of its workforce could be cut in the wake of renewed instructions to work from home.

Greene King employs around 38,000 people and was sold to Hong Kong-based real estate firm CK Asset Holdings in a £2.7b deal last year.