Nearly 500 people apply for two jobs at London pub as work runs dry

Nearly 500 people have applied for just two jobs at a London pub, as research showed job listings plummeting in July compared to last year.

Mick Dore, who manages the Alexandra in Wimbledon, south-west London, said that 484 people sent in CVs for two £9-an-hour jobs at the pub, which reopens on Monday.

He wrote on Twitter: "'I don't want to alarm anyone about the economy or anything, but I advertised two bar jobs at 4.30 on Thursday. We've had well over 400 applicants. Gulp."

Mr Dore added he would usually have expected around 12 replies from people who might not have been that experienced.

But this time there were applications from ex-air stewards and restaurant managers who had found themselves out of work due to the coronavirus crisis.

It comes as Office for National Statistics figures showed 74,000 more people left employment in June, with 649,000 fewer people in work since lockdown began in March.

Meanwhile the Fitzrovia Belle Pub and Hotel in central London recently saw 400 people applying for a handful of jobs.

Manager Rob Fisher told the Sunday Times: "The quality of people looking for work right now is as good as it ever has been. Unfortunately it's because of the situation people have found themselves in."

Internet searches for “supermarket” roles have gone up by 589 per cent compared with this time last year according to job website Indeed. Maintenance job searches increased by 440 per cent, with searches for forklift operator jobs also up 239 per cent. Bartending, digital marketing and research jobs were the most popular job searches for people in their late teens and early 20s.

But unfortunately for people looking for work, job postings were down 59 per cent as of July 10, compared with 2019. Pawel Adrjan, who heads research for Indeed, said the virus had made it much harder to find jobs in some parts of the UK than others.

He told the Sunday Times: “Growing regional disparities are exacerbating the north-south divide.”