Third of tier three pubs, bars and restaurants closed or plan to shut

26-Oct-2020 - Last updated on 26-Oct-2020 at 11:04 GMT

Trade poll: the survey asked respondents on the viability of operating with restrictions in place and the levels of support received

Some 33% of hospitality businesses in the ‘very high’ tier three do not have sufficient support to remain viable and have closed already or plan to, an industry survey has found.

The latest Hospitality Leaders Poll carried out by Lumina Intelligence for The Morning Advertiser, MCA, Restaurant and Big Hospitality, also revealed 35% of companies in the highest tier had seen bookings drop by 80% to 100%.

A quarter (26%) had seen bookings fall more than 100% while a further 26% said they had dropped by up to 50% and 11% said up to 20%.

Firms in the "high" tier two were also asked about the support available to them with half (50%) saying the help provided meant it was economical to continue trading but they would remain open.

Closing plans

Where are pubs in tier three?

Liverpool City Region
Greater Manchester
South Yorkshire

Almost a third (32%) of businesses would rather be in tier three and have more support with just one-in-10 (11%) claiming it was viable to continue trading and 7% revealing that they would be remaining closed or planned to close.

However, the questions were asked before Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s announcement of financial aid for businesses across the tiers last week (Thursday 22 October).

This included cash grants of up to £2,100 a month for businesses in tier two, for each month the restrictions have applied and backdated.

It also included an extension of support for the self-employed and a change to the Job Support Scheme.

Confidence levels

The industry survey, which polled 257 business leaders across the hospitality trade, has asked respondents how confident they were about the future of their business every week since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK.

The latest research found the number of operators asked who are ‘not confident’ about their future trading worsened by 9 percentage points week on week to 58%.

Some 29% said they were ‘quite confident’ (down from 36% last week), 2% were ‘very confident’ (a drop from 4% last week) and 12% were ‘confident’ (marginal decrease from 11%).