More than 22,000 hospitality jobs are believed to have been lost so far in 2020, more than double the total number recorded last year.

Figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) reveal 22,039 restaurant and casual dining sector positions have been lost in the sector, up 95.4 per cent on the 11,280 in 2019.

It is, of course, mostly down to the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the industry hard.

A number of major hospitality groups, including Byron, Casual Dining Group, and Carluccio’s, have fallen into administration since the outbreak of the virus. The government shut businesses on March 23, and restaurants and pubs were only allowed to reopen in July.

Though financial support has been distributed, some have slipped through the net, and others were already in too much trouble to recover from such a turbulent setback.

The CRR revealed the total number of closures has reached 1,467 in 2020, 59.1 per cent higher than the 922 seen over the coarse of last year.