Majority of operators not planning of making July’s rent payment

A weekly poll by HIM/MCA Insight, a division of The Morning Advertiser​​​​’s​ parent company William Reed Business Media, also stated a quarter (24%) were undecided on if they were going to make the payment and 34% were planning to pay.

A single site operator said: “Further financial support from central Government is needed to be able to clear debts that have risen due to the lock down.  Rent is a massive issue that will close many premises.”

Question responses

In response to the question ‘how confident are you about the future of your business’, almost half (48%) said ‘quite confident’, 4% were ‘very confident’ and 15% ‘confident’.

However, a third (33%) of respondents were not confident about the future of their company.

When it came to the possibility of a second lockdown, a quarter (25%) of those surveyed said they would be able to survive it. However, one in three (31%) said they wouldn't and 44% were unsure.

One the topic of reopening, one operator said it was taking too long to make the decision for pubs to open and they hadn’t made any preparations due to indecisive decisions of experts.

New normal

Many business owners called for a definitive opening date with clarification on social distancing measures.

This comes after the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) reiterated demands for the Government to give pubs a firm date​.

The trade body said a date was required to give pubs the confidence and certainty to prepare for reopening under ‘the new normal’ after being closed for three months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Poll respondents included 378 founders or board level operators across pubs, restaurants and the food-to-go sector.