St Austell Brewery to cut up to 100 jobs due to impact of pandemic

St Austell Brewery in Cornwall has announced will cut up to 100 jobs from its workforce.

The company says the pandemic has had a significant financial impact on its business with a 90% fall in revenue during lockdown. It's now consulting with staff.

The chain owns more than 180 pubs across the wider South West, and in 2016 merged with Bath Ales.

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The Brewery also told ITV News that it began its organisational review in July and is expected to be finalised by the end of November.

When pubs reopened the company says the effect of lockdown continued to be felt as trading levels are much lower than last year. With the reduced summer trade hitting the brewery particularly hard.

Kevin Georgel, Chief Executive, St Austell Brewery said: “Thanks to Government support we’ve been able to keep all of our people employed throughout the crisis however, as the furlough scheme tapers out, we can no longer maintain our current staffing levels.

Like all companies in the hospitality sector we must adapt to how the market has changed. Therefore, we need to simplify our business to become more sustainable, overcome the financial challenges we face and safeguard St Austell Brewery’s future.”

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