Pret distances itself from founder Julian Metcalfe’s lockdown comments October 29, 2020 Pret a Manger has distanced itself from its founder Julian Metcalfe and criticised his opposition to a second coronavirus lockdown. Metcalfe, who also founded sushi chain Itsu, said young people would pay the economic price of the lockdown, saying it would only save the lives of a “a few thousand” old or vulnerable people. Pret [...]
London financial services jobs rise after Covid-19 crash October 19, 2020 The number of available jobs in London’s financial services sector jumped in the third quarter as confidence began to return to the capital. Finance job vacancies rose 53 per cent in the three months to the end of September when compared to the previous quarter, according to recruitment agency Morgan McKinley. For London workers changing [...]
London lockdown: 200,000 hospitality workers to lose jobs this weekend, industry body warns October 16, 2020 About 200,000 hospitality workers in central London will lose their jobs this weekend as tier 2 coronavirus lockdown restrictions are imposed, the industry body’s chief executive has warned. UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said the tier 2 lockdown, which prohibits people from separate households from mixing, is a “maximum squeeze on revenue with no [...]
Pret axes 400 jobs amid further store closures October 16, 2020 Pret A Manger will cut 400 jobs and close a further six stores in London due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK. The struggling sandwich chain said the sales growth it had seen since April had slowed from September as Covid-19 injection rates began to rise. Pret declined to specify [...]
English businesses affected by local lockdowns to get extra government funding September 9, 2020 English businesses that have been forced to close in local lockdowns will receive grants worth up to £1,500 per per property they operate every three weeks. The emergency funding will provide support for businesses in cities such as Leicester, Bolton and other parts of Greater Manchester that have been hit by local lockdowns. The grants [...]
Shakespeare: Pret A Manger launches coffee subscription service September 9, 2020 On-the-go lunch seller Pret A Manger has made no secret of the difficult time it’s had as a result of thecoronavirus crisis. After lockdown, and as Britons continued to work from home and avoid city centres, it announced store closures and job losses after sales tumbled 74% year-on-year. In order for the business to survive [...]
British companies planned 300,000 redundancies in June and July September 8, 2020 UK employers planned more than 300,000 redundancies this summer as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take its toll on the economy. Figures obtained by a BBC Freedom of Information request show 1,784 firms made plans to cut nearly 150,000 jobs in July, a near sevenfold increase on the year before. While in June, 1,888 employers [...]
Two City professional bodies to share Walkie Talkie office space in home working drive September 8, 2020 Two of the City’s biggest financial services professional bodies will share an office in the Walkie Talkie as they seek to downsize their property footprints as part of a home working drive following the coronavirus lockdown. The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) will share a floor at [...]
Deutsche Bank asks 20 per cent of staff to return to London office September 7, 2020 Deutsche Bank is the latest City firm to ask employees to return to the office, as it invites some of its London-based staff back to its headquarters. The German bank has asked around 20 per cent of its employees to come back to its Great Winchester Street headquarters this week, according to Financial News. This [...]
Central London footfall jumps as office workers start to return September 7, 2020 Retail footfall in central London jumped last week as workers began returning to the office, in a sign of hope for struggling businesses in the capital, the latest research showed. Footfall increased 4.1 per cent across inner London high streets compared to the previous week as firms began to welcome employees back to the office. [...]