UPDATE 1-Wetherspoon calls for "sensible" UK rules as pub losses mount

(Adds details on results; other job cuts)

Oct 16 (Reuters) - The head of British pub operator J D
Wetherspoon warned on Friday of the threat posed to his
industry and the wider economy from measures to try to contain
the coronavirus, after the company sank to an annual loss.

Announcing a further 108 job cuts, this time at the
company's head office, Wetherspoon said its pretax profit had
sunk from 102 million pounds in the financial year ending July
2019 to a 34 million pound loss in the year to July 26.

The statement follows Marston's announcement of up
to 2,150 job losses earlier this week, and warnings from pub
bosses across northern England that the latest round of
restrictions will wipe out their businesses.

"The company and the entire hospitality industry need a more
sensible and consistent regulatory framework in which to
operate," said Chairman Tim Martin, who has been an outspoken
opponent of coronavirus restrictions for much of this year.

"The current environment of lockdowns, curfews and
constantly changing regulations and announcements threatens not
only pub companies, but the entire economy," he added.

Wetherspoon employed around 43,000 people at the end of its
last financial year and had already said it would cut up to 130
jobs at its head office and 400 to 450 employees at airport
concessions.

Shares in the company, which have already sunk this year,
were expected to fall another 3% at opening.

($1 = 0.7755 pounds)
(Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu and Yadarisa Shabong in
Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)