News
Wetherspoons confirms 66 staff have tested positive for coronavirus across 50 pubs
Have you been to Spoons recently?
Wetherspoons has revealed that 66 staff members across 50 branches in the country have tested positive for coronavirus since reopening.
Around 32 million people have visited Wetherspoons since they reopened there doors in July.
The company has now announced that of its 41,564 employees, 66 have tested positive for Covid-19.
One case of the virus has been reported in 40 pubs, six pubs have reported two cases, two pubs have reported three and two pubs have reported four cases.
The firm said most of the cases have either been mild or asymptomatic, and 28 of 66 employees have returned to work after self-isolating.
The locations of each pub with Covid-19 cases has not been disclosed by the company.
Wetherpoons boss, Tim Martin, has added that trade was quiet over the weekend following the tightening of restrictions from the government.
Mr Martin said: “Trade was very quiet over the weekend, as the public weighed up the evidence about the alleged dangers of going out – Wetherspoon sales were 22.5 per cent below the equivalent Saturday last year.”
The firm has invested around £15m in social distancing and hygiene measures, despite this, Mr Martin has told investors that the safety in pubs throughout the pandemic has been ‘widely misunderstood’.
He added that ‘it is clearly not the case’ that pubs are ‘dangerous places to be’.
The group said bar and food sales were down 16.9% from the period between reopening and August 16th, compared to last year.
Mr Martin has explained that they are expecting to post a loss for the year to July 26th.
Commuters could be facing the steepest rise in the cost of train travel in more than a decade just months after prices were already increased.
It has been predicted today that train prices across England and Wales could rise by nearly 5% before the New Year.
The 2021 rise in prices was delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic when train travel was at an all-time low, however, tickets still saw a price rise of 2.6% in March.
Abhijit Tembhekar / Flickr
And this morning, the Retail Prices Index for July 2021 was confirmed as 3.8% by the Office for National Statistics, meaning passengers could see fares rise by 4.8% in 2022, which would be the largest hike since 2012.
This means that the cost of rail travel could increase twice within ten months, and would see a Manchester-Glasgow off-peak return rise by £6.30 to £94.90, according to Metro.
Though all hope isn’t yet gone – changes to the fares in 2022 are still yet to be confirmed.
Jon David Houghton / Wikimedia Commons
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “No decision has been made on national rail fares.
“The government is considering a variety of options and we will announce our decision in due course.”
This news has come as train travel in Manchester and beyond is on the rise – earlier this month, we reported that zero cases of Covid were found in Manchester Piccadilly Train Station, despite thousands of commuters using the station’s services as offices reopen.
News
UK to welcome more than 20,000 refugees following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan
Reports claim that a number of these refugees will be housed in hotels near Manchester Airport
Heroic school boy clears 18 tonnes of rubbish which had been fly-tipped along country road
Kind-hearted Mancunians thanked after charity receives huge donations for Afghan refugees
Manchester has a new Indian bottomless brunch with fizz and cocktails like mango mimosas
Americans are baffled at how far people actually walk in the UK
Train fares set to increase again in ‘biggest hike’ for a decade
