By Brian Donnelly

ALL Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers has said around 1,300 jobs have been axed as it revealed the pandemic sent it plunging to a £123 million annual loss.

The pubs giant laid bare the extent of the recent redundancies as annual results showed the hefty annual losses for the year to September 26 from pre-tax profits of £177 million the previous year.

It said earlier this month that it was closing up to 20 of its pubs and restaurants and started redundancy consultations with staff, but did not at the time disclose how many roles were at risk. It said: “Despite our best efforts to protect as many jobs as we can, we have had to make circa 1,300 redundancies following the end of the financial period.

“The reduced levels of activity and closure of a small number of our sites meant that we could no longer support these roles.”

Mitchells swung into the red after full-year revenues plunged 34% to £1.5 billion and it said total sales since the end of September have plunged 50.8%, due largely to the latest lockdown. The group, which also owns Toby Carvery, said the outlook was dependent on Covid restrictions.