Pub chain and brewer Greene King, which has several local hostelries, toasted record festive sales figures, boosted by takings of more than £3 million on Christmas Day alone.

The group, whose brands include Hungry Horse, Old English Inns and Loch Fyne Seafood & Grill, said sales at its managed pub estate were up 6.3 per cent on a year ago during the two key weeks of the festive period.

Stay-at-home drinkers also benefited the company after its Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale brewing division grew sales by 20 per cent in December.

The group sold a record 62,000 meals on Christmas Day, generating a 12 per cent improvement in sales on a year earlier to £3.1 million. New Year's Eve was also successful after its pubs improved sales by ten per cent to £4.5 million.

Suffolk-based Greene King employs more than 22,000 people and has around 2,200 pubs, including some 1,000 in its managed estate. Those sites grew sales by five per cent on an underlying basis in the six weeks to January 5 and by 3.8 per cent in the first 36 weeks of the company's financial year.

Local Greene King pubs include The Ancient Foresters at Wibsey, the Chapel House Inn at Low Moor, Jug & Barrel, Pudsey, and The Horsforth in Horsforth.