Whitbread is cutting up to 6,000 jobs after seeing a slump in guests at its hotels and diners in restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic.

The company said stays at its Premier Inn hotels were down by half during August with numbers at Beefeater restaurants down by more than a third, despite the lift giving by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Sales were down by more than three quarters through the first half of the year with hotels and restaurants forced to close

It said demand was not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until late 2021 and possibly not until 2022.

The company, which has outlets across Gloucestershire, employs 35,000 staff with around three-quarters of them paid in part of fully by the furlough scheme.

Around 150 jobs were cuts at Whitbread's offices earlier this year and the company said it was hoping to avoid compulsory redundancies.

Chief executive Alison Brittain said: "With demand for travel remaining subdued, we are now having to make some very difficult decisions, and it is with great regret we are announcing our intention to enter into a consultation process that could result in up to 6,000 redundancies in the UK, of which it is hoped that a significant proportion can be achieved voluntarily."