The overall number of pubs in England and Wales fell to 38,623 from 38,989 a year earlier.

Simon Roberts has been made a CBE for services to the retail industry.

A raft of major UK retail and hospitality brand shut down stores across the UK this year, amid pressure on consumer finances and rising costs.

Figures from retail technology specialists MRI Software showed footfall up to 1pm on Christmas Eve was up 2.4% year-on-year.

The travel retail specialist confirmed last week it is being investigated by the UK’s financial watchdog after it overstated North American profits.

The billionaire boss, who runs the betting giant alongside her brother, received a £104 million salary and significant dividend payments.

Liberty Bar and Restaurant Group, which runs TGI Fridays’ UK operations, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on December 19.

The brand, which counts Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad among its investors, will shut its Southampton venue as a result.

In August, Associated British Foods (ABF) struck a deal to buy the 135-year-old business from US private equity owner Endless.

Here the Press Association looks at what the decision means and what the Bank of England expects to happen to the economy.

GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index improved by two points to minus 17 for December.

The Guinness owner is seeking to sell off ‘non-core’ parts of the business in order to boost its finances.

The Government is to support chemicals giant Ineos with funding to help secure jobs at the site.

The firm was expected to hand £2.46 million to 21 senior executives in so-called retention awards.

SThree reported that group net fees slipped by 12% to £322.7 million for the year to November.

The watchdog said it has found ‘several’ of these products in the UK which have failed to meet safety and labelling requirements.

The outages resulted in disruption to mobile call services, including to emergency services, across the UK, Ofcom said.

However, other major retail destinations and Christmas shopping locations, such as Harrods, will see their payments fall.

The retailer, which is now focused on travel stores, will reveal its results for the year to August 31 on Friday December 19.

The parcel delivery specialist was bought by US private equity firm Apollo for around £2.7 billion last year.