Mitchells & Butlers food push pays off with Christmas record

The pub-restaurant chain behind Toby Carvery and Harvester sold 200,000 Christmas lunches, often to folk who don't have enough space at home for a family get-together.

Figures for the past three months show sales up 3.9% as the group pushed its strategy of offloading drinks-only pubs and expanding the food arm.

This strategy is bearing fruit, though there remains some scepticism in the City about whether this will be a long-term success.

M&B says results from two of the new Harvesters on retail parks have been "encouraging".

The sales increase comes despite several years of fighting between investors and management. Last year the entire board was replaced in a row with Joe Lewis, the speculator and currency trader who owns 22% of the shares.

This week new chairman John Lovering said he intends to leave after merely a year in the job.

Chief executive Adam Fowle said he hoped today's annual meeting in Birmingham would "less interesting than last year's".

"We have had a number of changes over the years. But the operational performance has been strong."

Fowle said he was "pretty pleased" with the sales figures, which show food sales for the year to October up 4.7%, with drink up 1.4%.