By Nathan Kamal Cortes Rojas, Ilaria Mastio, Marina Gaiti, Kwesi-Lee Williamson and Eleonora Zorzenone
Hospitality is once again facing new restrictions in London. Pubs and restaurants will be close from Wednesday the 16th of December, and many jobs will be at risk.
The decision of moving into Tier 3 has been taken by Health Secretary Matt Hancock due to the increase of Covid-19 cases in the capital. Pubs and restaurants will be closed during Christmas. However, these businesses can still offer a takeaway service, according to GOV.UK.
Despite this, people like Hannah Sayer, a manager at N6 Coffee, are concerned about the money lost due to the new lockdown.
“We re-opened the business two weeks ago, and we spent lots of money to
make sure everyone was safe inside our venue. I’m very disappointed that now we need to close again. We’ll stay open for take-away, but the morale before Christmas is not the greatest.”
According to the BBC, hospitality was the sector that suffered the most with an unemployment rate that rose to 4.9%. Businesses have lost lots of money during this pandemic and have been forced to make cutbacks at the expense of their employees.
Guilia Sorrentino, a supervisor working at London’s Trinity pub, said that she is one of the lucky ones – but she is worried that she might not stay that way for long.
“I’m very grateful to spend Christmas at home for the first time in years while I’m still being paid,” she said.
“I’m anxious about my future, and what is going to happen to the company, a lot of my friends have been fired, and I’m scared it will happen to me too. I’m just wondering how long until it happens to me too.”
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of the trade body UK Hospitality told the Guardian that there is “no hard evidence that hospitality was a source outbreaks, pointing to schools as a more significant vector of disease”.
The future is uncertain as we have yet to be given a date for the end of this new lockdown. Hospitality venues can only hope it is soon.
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