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Wetherspoon confirms £48m Covid loan ahead of July 4 reopening

By Frank Prenesti

Date: Wednesday 24 Jun 2020

(Sharecast News) - Pub group JD Wetherspoon confirmed it had secured a £48.3m loan under the government's coronavirus loan scheme as it prepared to open 750 pubs on July 4.
The company on Wednesday said it had created a 'Wetherspoon Covid-19 Secure Operating Plan' after the government announced a further easing of lockdown measures.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said that venues such as pubs, restaurants and cafes could reopen so long as they offered table service and keep details of guests who could be traced in the event of an infection.

Wetherspoons said it did not currently intend to start any new pub development projects in the next 12 months. A small number of projects that were "on site" when pubs closed would be completed in due course, it added.

The company conducted a staff survey, receiving 36,004 (82%) responses. It revealed 35,616 have said they intend to return to work, although 4,090 could not return immediately, for family, caring or health reasons.

It added that 79 have tested positive for Covid-19, of which 74 have said they have recovered, and five have said that they were still unwell, another 834 suspected they had Covid-19, not confirmed by a test, of which 780 have said they had recovered and 54 said that they were still unwell. Two staff died at the end of April, having tested positive for the virus.

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