Pub and restaurant bosses have warned they are facing a staggering shortfall of 188,000 workers when hospitality venues fully reopen on June 21.
Jobs lost in hospitality account for 43 per cent of the national total during the coronavirus crisis, with many staff who have lost their employment moving into retail - and others heading back to their home countries in Europe.
Some restaurant bosses told MailOnline that furloughed staff had left to get a better-paid job at an agency, while another said he had not had a single response to an advert for a bar worker on a salary of £22,000 a year.
Celebrity chef Michael Caines says he can t recruit staff for his hotel and restaurants because so many people have left the industry during the pandemic.
Caines, 52, operates two restaurants on the Cornish coast and a hotel in Exmouth with a beach bar and restaurant there also due to open.
He is currently trying to hire 20 new staff members across the group - but the Michelin Star chef says recruitment is an issue.
He told the BBC that Brexit and the pandemic have led European workers to leave and not return - and another problem is the number of workers still on furlough.
Restaurants in Britain are facing a recruitment crisis as they gear up to fully reopen in three weeks time, after more than 350,000 jobs were lost in the hospitality industry during the pandemic.
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