All Bar One and Harvester owner to close up to 20 venues

The company behind All Bar One has confirmed it to close up to 20 sites as the hospitality sector faces continued Covid-19 restrictions.

Mitchells & Butlers, which is also behind the Toby Carvery and Browns chains, controls more than 1,700 bars, pubs and restaurants.

More than 95% of its sites re-opened after the first lockdown, with the remainder put under review.

It is understood the FTSE 250 company is working with advisers at CBRE to offload up to 20 sites under review, which will be closed if M&B cannot sell them to new owners.

The move is expected to see job losses at a number of leasehold sites, but the company - which employs around 44,000 people - has not revealed how many staff will be affected.

An M&B spokesperson said: “As announced in September, M&B re-opened the vast majority of its estate, approximately 95pc, 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.”

It comes after the group, which also runs the Harvester and Miller & Carter chains, started redundancy consultations with staff.

The pub and bar group said at the time that it was facing "significant difficulties" under tightened Covid-19 measures, but did not disclose how many jobs would be impacted by the cuts.

Other pub groups, including Marston's, Greene King, Young's and Fuller's, have also made redundancies in recent months, as the sector faces extended closures and restricted trading hours due to the pandemic.  

The sector has called on the Government to ensure the lockdown does end on December 2, as the weeks leading up to Christmas provide a crucial trading period.

Shares in M&B moved 4.3% higher to 228.4p in early trading. The company is due to publish its full year results later this month.