Covid-secure orders leaves hospitality with £900m tab
BRITISH pubs, bars and restaurants spent £900million on screens, masks and hand sanitiser to make their venues safe for reopening, according to industry estimates.
Bosses have spoken of their fury at spending the cash, only to be forced to shell out again to adapt to an ‘ever-changing raft of ill-thought-out regulations’.
Each pub has spent more than £10,000 on adapting their venues indoors according to research – but many can now only entertain customers outside.
In some cases, pubs and restaurants in northern cities face closure having only been open a few weeks.UK Hospitality analysis of figures supplied by its members claimed the sector has collectively invested £900million to become Covid-secure – including spending on equipment, venue adaptions, signs and masks.
Amidst growing anger, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was forced to extend the winter jobs scheme on Thursday, but fears remain for the future of thousands of businesses.
William Lees- Jones, managing director of 192-year-old pub group J.W. Lees, spent up to £160,000 making his 42 pubs in Wales and the North of England Covid-secure.
He said: ‘We’ve done a good job in the industry to make things safe… but the impact of the restrictions on our pubs is enormous. It is probably the toughest period the business has ever been through.
‘We’re dealing with a seasonal virus that we knew would come back in autumn, I’m dumbfounded that our politicians are making knee-jerk reactions.’
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: ‘90 per cent of pubs are unable to make any profit. More will need to be done to support Britain’s brewers and those in the pub supply chain who do not benefit from grants.’
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UK Hospitality, said: ‘Businesses large and small across the hospitality sector invested heavily to ensure their venues were safe. The Government’s restrictions make it impossible for most venues to operate profitably and are having a devastating impact.’
The measures have already had a devastating impact on jobs and official data suggests close to four in ten restaurants, pubs, hotels are at risk of going bust, and the majority are now loss-making. Last week the boss of Marston’s pub chain blamed lockdown measures for the loss of 2,100 jobs at its 1,700 venues, saying they were the ‘inevitable consequence of the limitations placed upon our business’.
It is spending £2million to add heated outdoor seating areas to its pubs.
Wetherspoons has spent £13.1million on getting its 875 pubs ready. Founder Tim Martin said the company is now being hit by ‘an ever-changing raft of ill-thought-out regulations’. It has announced up to 480 job cuts because of the pandemic.
Overall, unemployment is expected to rise by 1.1million in the nine weeks before Christmas, taking total joblessness to 2.7million. Around 590,000 hospitality staff were still on furlough at the end of August, despite the impact of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.