A far cry from the ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ mantra of the summer 2020, the people of Britain are being urged to limit trips to the pub, as omicron variant cases soar.

As the public sensibly takes heed of the chief medical officer’s warnings to cut back on socialising, trade for pubs, restaurants, theatres and other entertainment venues is inevitably taking a knock.

While Boris Johnson says “we think that it’s ok to keep going with Christmas parties”, cancellations at dining and entertainment venues over the festive period are ‘coming in thick and fast’, as the hospitality sector faces a £4bn loss.

‘Lockdown by the back door’

At a time when trade should be booming, the hospitality industry is urging the chancellor for a bailout, referring to the current situation as “lockdown by the back door.” 

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), a hospitality trade body which represents bars, nightclubs and live music venues, is calling on the government to reinstate the furlough scheme for the first quarter of 2022.

Amid warnings the industry is facing a “pseudo-lockdown,” the NTIA said the sector is heading for “12 days of Christmas misery.”

The government has not yet ordered pubs and venues to close but has effectively discouraged people from visiting them, a tactic the NTIA refers to as “morally wrong.” The trade body says its members have witnessed a 30% decline in footfall in recent days, with further drops expected in the coming days.

NTIA is urging the government to freeze VAT at 12.5%, provide sector-specific grants to ensure business and job survival, and reinstate furlough in the hospitality sector for the first quarter of 2022.

‘Economically illiterate and morally wrong’

Michael Kill, chief executive of the NTIA, commented: “The chancellor may be wary of stumping up the cash but this will be better for the economy in the long run than putting businesses at risk of failing.

“Throughout the pandemic, our members and their staff have done their bit to support the national effort, often at enormous personal and professional cost. But the government needs to hold up their end of the bargain. It is economically illiterate and morally wrong if they do not.”

Such sentiment is shared by Simon Emeny, chief executive of the London pub chain Fuller, Smith & Turner, who says through no fault of their own, businesses have been “’left in no man’s land.”

The costs of implementing a hospitality-only furlough scheme have been calculated by the Resolution Foundation. According to the think-tank’s figures, if it was to provide 80% of wage support like the original support package, such as scheme would cost the Treasury £1.4bn a month.

While footing a £5bn bill for a January to March sector-specific scheme might not be among Rishi Sunac’s list of priorities, it could make the difference between hospitality operators survival or demise. Surviving would mean companies would continue to pay taxes and employ people. It would also be in-keeping with the chancellor’s previous commitment of protecting businesses and livelihoods.

So “dire and deteriorating” has the situation become in the sector, that the chancellor cut short a trip to California to hold talks with business leaders in the hospitality trade about potential support.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a freelance journalist and contributing editor to Left Foot Forward.

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