The owner of Scotland’s biggest hospitality group has written to staff asking them to take a three-month "leave of absence" - and called it an "opportunity".

The G1 Group's founder Stefan King sent an email to staff explaining further redundancies could be avoided if staff were to consider accepting three months' unpaid leave. 

It comes after The Scottish Hospitality Group recently warned that any further lockdown restrictions would sound the death knell for pubs, restaurants and hotels across the country.

Now it seems the most recent raft of restrictions introduced today have prompted the hospitality business to explore its options moving forward.

In the email sent out with the subject line "Leave of Absence Opportunity", Mr King wrote:

“As we consider the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our employees and the business we wanted to explore whether there was any way of addressing the issue in the immediate term without having to make further redundancies (which is what we are trying to avoid) one solution was to ask you whether there would be an appetite amongst staff to consider accepting a period of up to three months’ unpaid leave of absence."

“This would mean that we could pick up where we left off when the worst of this nightmare is hopefully over.

“I appreciate that it is extremely worrying for you as it is for us all but I wanted to personally thank you for your patience, support and understanding whilst we navigate through these extremely difficult times as a Group.”

Mr King already came under fire for announcing mass redundancies in March, but swiftly reversed his decision upon the introduction of the UK Government's job retention scheme. 

A trade union previously claimed the G1 Group in Glasgow had terminated staff contracts amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The email also explains the likelihood of much of the business remaining closed until the end of the financial year.

It went on: “In essence that means a significant part of the estate unfortunately will remain closed for the remainder of this financial year, much of the reasoning for this is dictated by the restrictions placed upon us by the government. Perhaps the best example being unable to reopen late night venues such as nightclubs.

“These restrictions also mean a significant reduction in the number of hours our venues are able to trade, this is of particular relevance given the very recent change to closing times across the hospitality industry in Scotland to 10pm.

“Without exception this now means the venues we have been able to open are very much on reduced operating hours. With trade being difficult there have also in many cases been a reduction in days we are open.

The G1 Group has been asked for comment.