Staff are being cut at the Thornaby pub hit by an outbreak of salmonella poisoning.

A total of 99 people have now reported taking ill after eating at the Anson Farm restaurant on Teesside Industrial Estate in May.

Of those, 49 have been confirmed as salmonella infection, say Public Health England (PHE) North East.

All confirmed cases of salmonella are associated with eating at the restaurant before control measures were put in place on May 22, say PHE.

The PHE said it is not expecting any further reports of illness, and its outbreak control team will release the results of its investigation in the autumn.

Now The Gazette has learned that a number of staff at the pub, which only opened in April, are facing redundancy.

The Greene King pub chain, which owns the Anson Farm, said it is not yet known how many staff are at risk of redundancy, but said they will try to relocate them within the chain’s other pubs in the area.

Paul Currie, manager of the Anson Farm, said: “Anson Farm has not maintained the high level of trade that we saw when we initially opened in April and as a result we have to adapt the size of the team.”