WHSmith has become the latest high street name to announce job losses after announcing a 57 per cent drop in revenue in July compared with last year.

The retailer said up to 1,500 jobs could go - following the likes of Pizza Express, DW Sports, Hays Travel and William Hill in a bleak week for redundancies.

Much of the losses came from the company's travel outlets while takings in shops at airports and railway stations have also been hit hard with the sharp decline in passenger numbers during the coronavirus numbers.

Business in high street shops was 25 per cent down year on year in July - compared with a drop of 71 per cent in April.

A trading update said a loss of £70-75million is expected for the year to August.

Group chief executive Carl Cowling said: "COVID-19 continues to have a significant impact on the WHSmith group.

"In our travel business, while we are beginning to see early signs of recovery in some of our markets, the speed of recovery continues to be slow.

"At the same time, while there has been some progress in our high street business, it does continue to be adversely affected by low levels of footfall."

He continued: "Throughout the pandemic, we have responded quickly and taken decisive actions to protect the business, including substantially strengthening our financial position."

WHSmith employs more than 14,000 people and operates 612 high street shops.