Sector sends letter to PM pressing him for more help, warning that business will fail and hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost without more Government support
Over 100 hospitality businesses in the UK, including pub businesses, restaurant chains and hotel operators have written directly to the Prime Minister warning that he must personally do more to help them.
In the letter to the Prime Minister, led by trade associations the British Beer & Pub Association, UKHospitality and the British Institute of Innkeeping, it says that without additional and urgent support many businesses will not “survive this bleakest of winters” and hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost.
The letter states that even prior to the latest COVID-19 restrictions, half of all hospitality businesses did not believe they would survive beyond the middle of next year. It says that the latest restrictions – including the 10pm curfew – “have made this fight to survive even harder.”
It calls on the Government to commit to review the appropriateness of the latest restrictions at least every three weeks, and to remove them if they are found to not be impacting the spread of the virus.
The letter also says that if hospitality businesses are to survive and “lead the economic and employment recovery”, they need more Government support.
It states that the Chancellor’s winter support package “does not go nearly far enough for our imperilled sector.” It continues, “without an immediate review of the support on offer to pubs, restaurants and wider hospitality businesses, many will be lost for years to come.”
The letter immediately calls on the Prime Minister to remove employer contributions for the hospitality sector to the Job Support Scheme and provide a package of grant funding for those businesses that face restrictions being brought forward. To plan and rebuild beyond the winter, it also says “the VAT cut and business rates holiday must also be extended through 2021 and beer duty cut.”
In closing, the letter asks the Prime Minister “to intervene as a matter of urgency” and offers a meeting of sector leaders to help draw up a sector-specific support package to reflect sector-specific restrictions and preventing “the devastating damage that is drawing ever closer.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
Letter to Prime Minister: https://www.beerguild.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Hospitality-open-letter-to-PM-September-2020.docx
British Beer & Pub Association
The British Beer & Pub Association is the leading body representing Britain’s brewers and pub companies. The Association is more than a century old and was originally founded as the Brewers’ Society in 1904. Our members account for some 90 per cent of beer brewed in Britain today, and own around 20,000 of the nation’s pubs.
For further information, please contact:
Nick Lawrie, Digital Communications Manager: nlawrie@beerandpub.
UKHospitality
UKHospitality is the trade body representing the UK’s hospitality sector, representing over 700 companies, operating around 70,000 venues in a sector that employs 3.2 million people.
The body speaks on behalf of a wide range of leisure and ‘out-of-home’ businesses, from FTSE 100 enterprises to niche groups and independent single-site operators – covering pubs, restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, contract catering, leisure parks, visitor attractions and coffee shops.
For further information, please contact:
Chris Banks, PR Manager, cbanks@ukhospitality.
British Institute of Innkeeping
The BII is the leading independent licensee support organisation for individuals working in hospitality, with over 9,000 individual members running premises across the UK – predominantly tenanted, leased, managed and freehold pubs. The organisation provides expert helplines, online business support, and guidance on key industry issues, face-to-face networking opportunities and savings on a range of supply deals for its members.
For further information please contact:
Molly Davis, molly.davis@BII.ORG, 07539 377752