When will the hospitality trade open?

Your guess is as good as mine! If you listen to the government, then we might be looking at 4th July.  But with no guidance from the Government and a 2 metre social distancing policy in place, that looks unlikely.

Even premises with the best outside areas would struggle to make their businesses viable unless we get endless sunshine.  Check out the bookies for those odds!

What does the trade need to open?  Probably no social distancing at all!  Some might be able to make it work with 1 metre social distancing. A few may make 2 metres work but I suspect lots will struggle to comply, despite their best efforts.

Last week, it looked like we were still moving towards 4^th July and we were also thrown a glimmer of hope from Boris Johnson in the form of a re-evaluation of social distancing.  Now we are making a comparison to other countries (most of which have seen far fewer deaths due to Covid-19).

We might have a boom summer!  If you are like me and currently have no solid summer holiday plans, then you will probably be spending your money here in the UK…..which fuels my optimism.

So, I’m still very positive about a summer reopening.  But we need guidance not guesswork.  Certainly, my clients are optimistic, as I have quite a few applications to submit.

We do need to get the hospitality sector open for business, but we need to balance that against our safety.

If you have any queries about the licensed trade, please contact Matt Foster on 0191 212 7702 or email mfoster@mincoffs.co.uk