Covid support not enough say West hospitality bosses

Paul Kemp said the government had to do more to support businesses

Hospitality businesses have said the government's latest support package will not help them survive a difficult Christmas period.

The Treasury has announced a series of measures including one-off grants of £6,000 per premises for hospitality and leisure businesses.

But many in the West said the funding might not be enough.

One brewery director said the government's messaging around Covid-19 had "decimated" trade.

Paul Kemp, managing director of Beerd on St Michael's Hill in Bristol, said in the past two weeks they had at least 200 cancellations.

Analysing the government's grant package, he worked out his business would get about £4,000, but said that was a long way off what he expected to make during the typical Christmas period.

"Some people will order £4,000-8,000 worth of stock in a week for their sales and now that is just going to be sat in the seller," he said.

Hospitality bosses say they are worried about how they will fare in the next two months

"It has to go further - the sick pay is not enough - that has got to be the same as what the furlough levels were, maybe at least 80% of what people would have got paid, as if they are sick we need that support from the government.

"We have no idea whether we will be open next week.

"So [what we are getting from government] it's not clear enough, not good enough."

Andrew Murray, director of independent brewers the Twisted Brewing Company in Westbury, Wiltshire, said he was also concerned about how his business would fare in the next two months.

"Ordinarily trade has a downturn in January/February post-Christmas, and normally our Christmas trade would take us through and see us through that," he said

"Unfortunately, we've seen our trade decimated this week and last week, and we're certainly not expecting anything next week, so the last few weeks of Christmas trade have been decimated by what the government have said or not said really."

Many businesses say they have lost bookings due to uncertainty over the Omicron variant

He added that trade was 60% lower than expected takings in a normal December and the firm was trying to "pivot to supplying people direct" as they had during the lockdowns.

But changes caused by Omicron had taken him by surprise as he had not prepared to change his entire business model "without any financial support from the government".

He said the Treasury support would be "very welcome" but added that he doubted if it would include suppliers to the hospitality industry who would therefore face "a long cold winter".

The chancellor announced the latest funding for Covid-hit businesses in the week before Christmas

Sam Holliday, from the Bristol and West Federation of Small Business, said it was "good news" the government had recognised the challenges businesses faced.

"We know that a lot of businesses will benefit from this.

"Is it enough? Probably not. Will it get to all the businesses that need it? Definitely not.

"But it's certainly a step in the right direction."

Ed Anderson, who runs Cheltenham pubs The Railway, The Swan and The Vine, in Gloucestershire, said a lack of certainty remained an issue.

"It's just not really possible to plan at the moment is it?" he added.

"We're looking after the guests that we have and the pubs are still very nice.

"We're hoping for the best but we'll just have to wait and see where we are led."

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