M&B feeds families escaping the snow

Harvester and Toby Carvery owner Mitchells & Butlers hailed a bumper Christmas yesterday as weather-beaten families made up for December's snow disruption.

The group, which serves some 125 million meals and 430 million drinks a year, said like-for-like sales over the key 12-day festive trading period between 23 December and 3 January showed growth of 6.7 per cent.

This offset the impact of weather on the start of the company's most recent trading period, resulting in growth of 2.5 per cent in the nine weeks to 22 January.