Pubs, restuarnts, hotels and other tourist accommodation are facing a battle to stay afloat during the pandemic SCOTLAND’S pubs, restaurants and hotels may not recover from the pandemic until 2022 and is dependent on a global suppression of the virus, MSPs have been warned. Hospitality leaders have warned that businesses continue to be closed “on a daily basis” with Government support labelled “totally inadequate” to allow traders to cover the costs of enforced closures or restrictions. Appearing in front of Holyrood’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee, Willie Macleod, executive director for Scotland at UK Hospitality, issued a stark warning amid the “total absence of international tourism and travel” during the pandemic.
Quarter of UK pubs feared closing for good even before new lockdown
The UK s hospitality businesses have been battered by a wave of lockdowns (Getty Images)
More than a quarter of UK pub and bar-owners said they feared their business would fail even before the latest lockdowns in London and the south east.
Figures from the UK’s statistics body showed that 27.9 per cent of pub and bar businesses said they had low or no confidence in surviving the next three months.
The survey referred to the period from 2 to 15 November, as England was entering a month-long lockdown.
It shows the huge amounts of stress the UK’s hospitality businesses were under even before the government put London, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire in the strictest Tier 3 restrictions overnight.
BBC News
By Vivienne Nunis
image copyrightRepublic
image captionTier 3 restrictions mean Kuldeep Mattegunta (R) and Mustaq Tappewale won t be able to launch their new restaurant on Wednesday as planned.
When news came through that London would be moving to tier 3 restrictions, Kuldeep Mattegunta says he felt lost .
He was due to open his first restaurant on Wednesday - the same day the tougher coronavirus rules come into effect. We had 25 guests booked for the soft launch. When the news was out, we just felt lost, he said.
The Chiswick restaurant is one of 14,000 hospitality businesses in the capital that will temporarily close, says commercial property advisor Altus Group.