- UK-based Hospitality big shots are considering legal actions against the move to close pubs early
- NTIA’s covid-lockdown review has garnered support from leaders in the North of England
- Many businesses are proceeding to “the point of no return”
THD NewsDesk, London: Britain’s hospitality industry is ardently opposing the new lockdown restrictions which have been put in place, as it is being assumed that this will bring about “catastrophic” consequences for this sector. There have already been major financial loses and suffering from it further, will just make the situation worse than it already is.
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) remarked that there has been no corroboration which supports the fact that hospitality venues are contributors to the spread of the coronavirus. NTIA speaks for more than 1,400 establishments across the UK’s night-time economy and they also mentioned that they’ve been left with “no other option but to legally challenge” the government’s take, regarding the pandemic. As per reports by the NTIA, the night-time economy is the UK’s 5th largest industry and it makes up for approximately 8% of the UK’s employment and yearly yields of £66bn.
The CEO of NTIA, Michael Kill was quoted saying, “These new measures will have a catastrophic impact on late-night businesses and are exacerbated further by an insufficient financial support package presented by the chancellor in an attempt to sustain businesses through this period.”
He added, “This next round of restrictions are hugely disproportionate and unjust, with no scientific rationale or correlation to Public Health England transmission rates, when compared to other key environments. Another closure will undoubtedly cause extreme hardship. The gravitas of the situation and the impact on the industry has been elongated and uncompromising.”
NTIA’s statement has garnered support from leaders in the North of England, who have been swept by the surge in covid cases. The British Beer and Pub Association, which represents more than 20,000 pubs across the UK, JW Lees and Joseph Holt, have also backed this review.
The UK Hospitality chief executive, Katie Nicholls, added that these restrictions are leading some of the businesses to “the point of no return”. Furthermore, Nicholls stated, “There is currently a concerning lack of support on offer for hospitality businesses in tier two, and to a lesser extent tier one, despite their facing restrictions that are seeing trade down by between 40% to 60%. They will have the worst of both worlds, operating under significant restrictions without the financial support on offer to tier 3 businesses.”
Manchester’s night-time economy adviser, Sacha Lord, stated, “Once again the government wants to shut down pubs and bars, but this cannot keep happening and we need to understand why the hospitality industry is being isolated like this – where is the scientific evidence to suggest closing venues suppresses transmission?”
The government has even been lashed with a legal challenge which urges the concerned officials to rethink the 10 PM curfew.
