UK pub firm Greene King axes 800 jobs on virus curbs

British pub chain Greene King said on Wednesday, October 7, it will cut 800 jobs, after new coronavirus restrictions were imposed on the hospitality sector to counter rising infections.

Although pubs have now reopened following lockdown earlier in the year, the United Kingdom government has forced them to close by 10 pm each night under new COVID-19 rules rolled out last month.

“The continued tightening of the trading restrictions for pubs, which may last another 6 months, along with the changes to [UK] government support, was always going to make it a challenge to reopen some of our pubs,” a Greene King spokesperson said.

The company, which has approximately 2,700 pubs, restaurants, and hotels in Britain, has decided to not yet reopen 79 sites that had already been temporarily shuttered by the pandemic – and about one-third of those locations will close permanently.

“This affects around 800 of our team members, but we’re working hard to find them a role elsewhere within the company,” the spokesperson added.

Late on Wednesday meanwhile, the devolved Scottish government ordered pubs to shut for just over two weeks in its two biggest cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, to halt a rise in coronavirus cases.

Wednesday’s news comes one day after industry body UKHospitality warned that the sector would shed more than 560,000 jobs this year as the pandemic kills trade in bars, hotels, nightclubs, pubs, and restaurants.

The organization also warned of large numbers of extra job losses from next month when the government waters down its jobs support scheme that has helped keep millions of people in employment during the pandemic. – Rappler.com