PUB giant JD Wetherspoon has said that it expects its pubs to remain shut until APRIL as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
The company said it has made “zero” sales in 2021 so far as all of its 872 pubs have remained shut since December 31 2020.
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At the same time, it is burning through £4million in cash a week.
It added that more than 99% of its 37,674 current employees are furloughed as a result.
It had planned to entice punters back with cut prices in January but instead it was forced to close all of its pubs when most of England was plunged into Tier 3 and Tier 4.
Pubs remain closed throughout the current lockdown, which started on January 5, and which could last until the end of March.
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Tory MPs have demanded Boris Johnson publishes a plan to end lockdown from March 8 but it’s understood the return of schools is a higher priority than reopening the hospitality sector.
The pub chain is tapping up investors for more cash after the warning that it will remain shut until at least April.
So far, ‘Spoons has raised £93.7million from investors.
Trade is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2022.
Even so, the company estimates that it has sufficient liquidity to the end of the current financial year.
It is the second equity raise for the firm in the pandemic. Last April it raised £137.7million of new funds.
The group has reduced its staff levels by more than 6,000 since the start of March 2020, including a raft of redundancies at its head office and airport sites.
Tim Martin, chairman of Wetherspoon, said: “After a number of false starts, the hospitality industry generally anticipates a return to more normal trading patterns in the spring and summer, as a result of the introduction of a mass vaccination programme.”
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The pub chain has urged thousands of its furloughed staff to join The Sun’s Jabs Army campaign, to help with the Covid-19 vaccine roll out.
BT, Morrisons, British Airways, Paddy Power and Sky TV are also among the businesses getting behind the drive, which saw us reach our 50,000 volunteers target within 18 days of launching it.
It comes after The Sun’s editor Victoria Newton today called on This Morning viewers to help us in the final push.
Wetherspoons boss blasts 10pm curfew and masks in pubs saying it’ll ‘cost Boris Johnson the next election’
