You don’t have to shut pubs to punch a hole in their takings — as dire pre-Christmas trading figures from UK Hospitality, the industry body, indicate — but some operators are likely to feel the pain more than others. Fuller, Smith & Turner faces a bigger threat than most from any return to tighter restrictions.
A greater exposure to urban London means that Fuller’s sales have been slower to recover than rivals such as Marston’s and Mitchells & Butlers. Like-for-like sales over the seven weeks to mid-November were still 10 per cent lower than 2019 levels for its managed pubs. Guidance to work from home and rising infections look set to widen that gap further this month and in January.
Not surprisingly, the recovery
