Friday newspaper round-up: No-deal Brexit, City landlords, Hinkley Point

Pub and restaurant chains traded at half their pre-pandemic levels after reopening across England last weekend, as consumers proved to be wary of visiting their local or eating out. Among those pubs that did open, sales on 4 July and 5 July were 45% below pre-Covid levels, the analysis found. According to the Coffer Peach Business Tracker, which collates sales figures from 32 pub chains, about four out of 10 chain pubs began serving drinks again last weekend after being closed for nearly four months. - Guardian

The cost of household staples, ranging from meat and cheese to school uniforms and drinking glasses, will substantially increase if there is no Brexit trade deal, British retailers have warned. With just six months to go before the UK leaves the EU entirely by exiting the single market and the European customs union, retailers fear further damage to a sector already reeling from the coronavirus crisis, with 5,600 job losses announced on Thursday from Boots and John Lewis alone. – Guardian

China’s financial watchdog is increasingly worried about speculative leverage on the soaring Shanghai and Shenzhen equity markets, fearing a repeat of the boom-bust debacle in 2015 when the crash almost spun out of control. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has blacklisted 258 brokerage houses accused of offering illegal margin accounts at 10 times leverage. It told investors to “raise their risk awareness” before the buying frenzy reaches dangerous levels. – Telegraph

The government must provide better advice about public transport and on returning to the office to end “mixed messages” about what is safe, business leaders have said. Shobi Khan, chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, the London offices landlord, said it was an “oxymoron” that people could fly to different countries but could not go into work. “There is no problem going to Spain, Italy or France, but heaven forbid you go to the office,” Mr Khan said. – The Times

The chief executive of the French company building Britain’s new nuclear reactors won boardroom approval for the project after suppressing an internal review labelling it as risk- laden, according to France’s public accounts court. The disclosure is likely to fuel disquiet on both sides of the Channel over the construction of two new generation reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset at an estimated cost of up to £22.5 billion. – The Times