Pub and brewery giant Shepherd Neame is to hire 300 new staff as it prepares to open the doors on all its pubs and hotels over the coming weeks.

The Faversham-based firm has 312 pubs and hotel across the South East and was able to reopen 75% for outside service last month. Now it is looking to strengthen its team as the remainder open from this coming Monday.

The easing of lockdown will mean service inside can resume. The firm is looking for a range of staff from kitchen roles to management.

Shepherd Name started the first lockdown with 1,750 staff but was forced to release 10% of them last autumn, with a further 10% leaving of their own accord during the hugely disruptive period which saw pubs forced to close their doors for much of the year due to the health crisis.

Director of retail and tenanted operations Nigel Bunting said: “We have been overwhelmed by the positive customer response since we began opening our pubs last month, and we expect to be busy this summer as people enjoy socialising and reconnecting with friends and loved ones once again.

"In preparation for this, we are delighted to announce that we will be recruiting more than 300 full and part-time team members across a variety of management, front of house and kitchen roles.”

Last month, its chief executive, Jonathan Neame, revealed for the six months ending December 26, 2020, the firm reported a statutory loss of £7.2million before tax. A year earlier, the same period had generated a profit of £5.4m.

Added Mr Bunting: "After a challenging year, we are delighted to finally be able to look ahead and plan for the future and recruit talented people to join our team – and also do our bit to help start rebuilding the local economy.”

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