» All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers shuts down up to 20 pubs and restaurants permanently

An M&B spokeswoman said: ‘As announced in September, M&B re-opened the vast majority of its estate, approximately 95 per cent, after the first lockdown ended. ‘The remaining sites have been under review on a case-by-case basis since and we have taken the difficult decision not to reopen some of these sites”, according to the Daily Mail.  The sites which they have permanently closed will have devastating consequences on landlords who will be faced with vacant properties which in this climate will be extremely difficult to re-let.