Pub group Wetherspoon's losses widen, staff hard to find

Pressure on pub managers and staff has been particularly acute and some areas of the country "have found it hard to attract staff".

The company's sales in the first nine weeks of its current fiscal year were still 8.7% lower compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The Wetherspoon's pub chain fell deeper into the red for its fiscal 2021 and said it had like many other businesses found it hard to attract workers in some areas of the UK as trading improved.

The company's losses ballooned to £194.6m (€168m) for the 12 months ended July 25, from £105.4m (€91m) a year earlier because of pandemic curbs. Its like-for-like sales slumped 38.4%.