Industry reacts to England tier allocation

Readers can find a full list of the areas and which tier they fall into, here. ​

Restaurant owners have voiced mixed opinions in reaction to the news of England's tier allocations, revealed yesterday (26 November 2020), which put 98% of the UK's hospitality trade under the top two most restrictive measures.

Trade body UKHospitality has said that £7.8bn worth of trade is due to be wiped out over the coming month, should the rules remain unchanged for the whole of December.

Operators have questioned the logic used by the government, including how it decided which areas fall into what tier, and the timing of these restrictions.

"It seems that this time around there seems to have been a bit more thought put into the different tiering systems," says Tom Aikens, founder of Muse in Belgravia. 

"The statistics show that hospitality is not the cause of the resurgence of the virus - as an industry we are strict with health and safety regulations anyway, and are the safest and most sanitised environments in which to meet. We've been used as the scapegoat for too long.

"We should be allowed to remain open, operating at our full capacity without the curfew - I really do question what that is really going to accomplish limiting last orders to 10pm. We should be given our full licence to run our venues and make as much revenue as we can - this year has been hard enough and the job losses catastrophic.

"This scaremongering has to stop - it's turning customers away. Let us operate fully and help build up the economy again. It's tough for small businesses as it is."

Many businesses' hopes of steadier trade in the lead up to the festive season were dashed when they discovered which tier they'd been allocated.

"We are surprised that we have been placed in Tier 2 to be honest, we were expecting Tier 1," admits Charlie Baxter, co-founder of Pluma in Amersham. 

"This is going to have a huge impact on our trade over what is the most crucial month of the year for revenue in our sector. We're already getting cancellations. This is not good news."

Only three areas were put into Tier 1, including Cornwall, with operaters in these areas letting out a big sigh of relief when the news broke.

"For some areas it seems a bit unfair, but they have taken into account the capacity of the NHS when making the decision and we need to adhere to it," says Michael Caines, chef patron at Lympstone Manor, The Harbourside Refuge and The Cove.  

"Naturally, I’m delighted to be Tier 1 in Cornwall and Tier 2 in Devon, whilst being incredibly sympathetic towards those placed into Tier 3. Hopefully we can all pull together to ensure things continue to improve."

Another huge blow to hospitality 

UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls has condemned the latest tier announcement as 'another huge blow to hospitality'.

"These are safe spaces for people to meet, relax and socialise and the sector is desperate to get staff back to work, open their doors and, in the long term, diminish reliance on the public purse and begin driving economic recovery," she said in a statement. 

“The new tiers will see over 120,000 venues across England placed into Tier 2, with tens of thousands of these forced to close as they are unable to provide a table meal, either physically or financially. This affects the employment of nearly 1.5m people. Under this severe a restriction, 94% of our members say they will be unviable or trading at a loss.

“For the 38,000 businesses in Tier 3, employing over 540,000 there is no option but to provide takeaway or close altogether.

 “We still have not seen any evidence that hospitality venues – which have invested great time effort and money to making their spaces Covid-secure – are a problem area in terms of infection, so it seems unfair and arbitrary that hospitality is being dealt such a harsh hand. According to a recent UKH survey, 72% of visitors to hospitality were satisfied with the safety of our venues, compared to just 11% who were not.

 “It is now more vital than ever that the government provides urgent further financial support for this sector. If it does not, we are looking at huge numbers of job losses, businesses permanently closed and the landscape of hospitality in this country fundamentally degraded for the foreseeable future.

“If we want to see businesses survive, then we desperately need a replacement for the Job Retention Bonus Scheme and for the government to extend the rent moratoria and broker a solution to tackle the issue of rent debt that has built up.

"If we want to give those businesses that do survive this winter a better chance at succeeding next year, then the VAT cut and businesses rates holiday must now be extended and grants provided to support businesses paid out at the earliest opportunity.”