Tier 2 and 3 restrictions are proving catastrophic for hospitality businesses, says poll

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The Tier 2 and 3 restrictions are proving catastrophic for hospitality businesses with some experiencing a huge drop in trade as a result of the Government measures.

Over a third of operators that have entered Tier 3 (35%) have seen bookings reduce by between 80% and 100%, according to Lumina Intelligence’s weekly Leaders Poll.

A third of those businesses (33%) say they do not have sufficient support to remain viable and have closed or plan to close.

Businesses in Tier 2 restrictions are not faring any better, according to the poll, with almost a quarter of operators (21%) that have entered Tier 2 lockdown have seen bookings down between 80 and 100%,

More concerning, of those hospitality operators that have entered Tier 2, 50% believe they do not have the support to continue trading as a viable business, according to the findings.

“Central Government is destroying our sector - their actions are nothing less than a catastrophic failure of duty,” says one independent restaurant operator.

“There is no science supporting the curfew, it actually endangers lives and livelihoods. The new tier system has suffocated trade as financial support falls away.  

“Back in March the Prime Minister said he would do ‘whatever it takes’ to support, now it seems (in the  second wave) he is doing as little as possible. The restrictions are clearly not working, they are not reducing cases and deaths - only another lockdown will do that.

“If there is another lockdown it needs to come with a full financial support package: 80% wages covered plus grants.”

Respondents also described the tier system as unworkable in certain areas, with one publican saying: “In a city centre Tier 2 is just not workable. If four people work in an office why can’t they dine together, customers don’t understand the reasons for the rule of single household but not single work place.”

Confidence among hospitality leaders has also taken a further knock, with the number of respondents asked who are ‘not confident’ in their future trading dropping 9% week on week to 58%.

The weekly poll, which is conducted by Lumina Intelligence for BigHospitality, Restaurant, MCA, and The MA, spoke to 257 board level operators running pubs, restaurants and food to go operations.