John Lewis Partnership recorded an overall loss of £234 million, compared to a profit of £181 million last year.

It meant the department store chain, which has a store in Cheltenham, was unable to pay its famous staff bonus, as reported by Retail Gazette. In 2022, the John Lewis bonus was worth 3% of salary.

The biggest hit was a write-down in the value of Waitrose stores.

Sales across the partnership were down 2% to £12.25 billion, with Waitrose sales falling 3% for the year to January 28.

John Lewis said "economic backdrop and inflationary pressures" were to blame. There were also Waitrose supply issues after a warehouse fire in the summer.

The partnership reported that Waitrose was attracting more customers, but they were buying less - with some shoppers moving to the discounters.