Operators split about December reopening

The Hospitality Leaders Poll conducted by Lumina Intelligence for The Morning Advertiser​, MCA​, Big Hospitality​ and Restaurant ​asked 271 respondents how confident they were that they would reopen on 3 December.

A third (33%) said fairly, 34% were not very confident, more than a tenth (15%) were not confident at all. Some 8% weren’t sure and just 9% were very confident.

Those surveyed were also asked if their business will survive if lockdown restrictions in England continue into the spring.

More hurdles

The most popular answer was maybe with 38% choosing that option, 32% said no and 30% said they were confident.

Some 40% also said the second lockdown was harder than the first one, while 31% said it was easier and 29% said they felt the same about both lockdowns.

One operator said: “The grant available is so low this time. [It] doesn’t even cover the rent and for some reason a lot more hurdles in applying. [It’s] going to be a real slog even after we built trade back up before the second lockdown,”

Another compared the rules on takeaway service during the first lockdown to the rules during the second enforced closure.

Sales down

They said: “Takeaway sales in the spring and summer were buoyant but, although we expected them to be less in the autumn, it is clear customers believe the Government's original message that alcohol takeaway would not be allowed this time, making the sales much less.”

The survey has polled the levels of confident in business leaders week on week and in the latest questionnaire, the percentage of hospitality operators asked who are ‘not confident’ in the future of their business worsened from 33% to 38%.

Those who said they were ‘quite confident’ also worsened from 56% the previous week to 47% this week.

However, those who said they were ‘very confident’ improved marginally from 4% to 6% week on week.