All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers to axe 20 pubs and restaurants

The owner of All Bar One and Toby Carvery has said it will axe up to 20 of its pubs and restaurants as the hospitality sector battles coronavirus restrictions.

Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has confirmed the move which is set to put scores of jobs at risk after sales slumped in the face of temporary site closures.

It is understood the company is working with advisers at CBRE to offload the string of sites, which will be closed if M&B cannot sell them to new owners.

An M&B spokeswoman said: “As announced in September, M&B re-opened the vast majority of its estate, approximately 95%, after the first lockdown ended.

“The remaining sites have been under review on a case-by-case basis since, taking into account factors such as expected footfall and business layout.

“We have taken the difficult decision not to reopen some of these sites and are working with leaseholders on next steps.”

Last month, the group, which also runs the Harvester and Miller & Carter chains, started redundancy consultations with staff.

The pub and bar group said it was facing “significant difficulties” after restrictions tightened again but did not disclose how many jobs would be impacted by the cuts.

Rivals including Greene King, Young’s, Fuller’s and City Pub Group have also made redundancies during the pandemic.

Shares in the company moved 4.3% higher to 228.4p in early trading.