Greene King to cut up to 800 jobs and shut 79 pubs and restaurants

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Greene King/PA

Greene King is cutting up to 800 jobs and closing 79 pubs and restaurants, as it blamed the move on the 10pm curfew and the end of the government’s furlough scheme.

Greene King, one of Britain’s biggest pub operators, with more than 1,700 pubs and 38,000 staff, said that about a third of the outlets will close permanently, with the rest “mothballed” until they can reopen.

“The continued tightening of the trading restrictions for pubs, which may last another six months, along with the changes to government support was always going to make it a challenge to reopen some of our pubs,” a spokesman said.

“Therefore, we have made the difficult decision not to reopen 79 sites, including the 11 Loch Fyne restaurants we announced last week. Around one third will be closed permanently and we hope to be able to reopen the others in the future. We are working hard with our teams to try and find them a role in another of our pubs wherever possible.”

© Photograph: Greene King/PA Greene King says about a third of its outlets will close permanently, with the rest ‘mothballed’ until the business can reopen.