THE boss of Burger King has warned that up to 10 percent of its stores could close resulting in around 1,600 job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The fast food chain, which has stores in Darlington, County Durham and Teesside, has reopened just 370 of 530 UK stores following months of closure.

Alasdair Murdoch, Chief Executive of Burger King UK warned of economic damage stemming from the crisis, which he said could force the chain to axe stores.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "We don't want to lose any (jobs). We try very hard not to, but one's got to assume somewhere between 5 percent and 10 percent of the restaurants might not be able to survive.

"It's not just us - I think this applies to everyone out there in our industry."

This comes as yesterday the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £30bn support package to help boost the nation's economic recovery, which included plans to subsidise restaurant bills throughout August to encourage people to dine out.

But Mr Murdoch added that Government schemes do not do enough to compensate restaurants for the combination of fixed costs and lost sales throughout the pandemic.

He added: "I don't think you can ever get over the top of this problem."

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been felt across the North-East with some restaurant owners joining forces in order to survive.

Darlington businessman Mussy Choudhury, who owns Red Hot Bar, in Houndgate, is teaming up with Shany Ahmed, chef at Bombay Gate, in Skinnergate.

The new collaboration means Red Hot will launch as a Bollywood-themed bar, with customers able to order in food from Bombay Gate.

The men said they have launched the venture as they made efforts to survive the pandemic.