With the government announcement yesterday, of which areas of the UK are to be placed in which of the 3 tiers. Today we hear from two hospitality organisations facing the Tier 2 & Tier 3 restrictions in the run up to the festive period.
Becketts prepares for Tier 2 restrictions and a welcome return to business
Becketts is a highly regarded and unique venue in Southsea, Portsmouth. The management and staff have had a turbulent year dealing with the restrictions placed upon them to deal with the covid-19 outbreak. As England prepares to exit the Autumn lockdown with the new, more restrictive, tiered system in place for hospitality venues to deal with, Terence Carvalho, General Manager at Becketts is full of confidence that his team will be ready to open.
Carvalho told the Leaders Council ‘As general manager I am extremely excited to reopen our doors to our wonderful loyal customers who have supported the business especially during the most difficult year of most of our lifetimes.’ He goes on to say that despite the challenging trading conditions of 2020 Beckets has won a LuxLife Hospitality Award and is included in the top 10% of hotels in the world according to TripAdvisor.
On the government imposed restrictions Carvalho says ‘’Portsmouth is alongside 90% of England which has been given tier 2 restrictions but we are confident we can continue to flourish. The front of house team and the kitchen team are raring to go with a new menu to be launched shortly.’’
Chief Executive of Van Dyk Hotel questions how hospitality can survive Tier 3 Restrictions
Paul Wildes, Chief Executive of Van Dyk Hotel, has sent a letter to the MP for Bolsover, Mark Fletcher, questioning why the area has been placed into Tier 3 restrictions and asking how hospitality businesses will survive the winter with such strict measures in place. Wildes says that the current restrictions ’ will spell the end of the hospitality sector as we have known it as many of the restaurants and pubs will simply never open again.’’ Highlighting that ‘These are businesses, which have been built over many years by talented and hardworking people who take pride in what they have created. In many cases these businesses are at the centre of their communities helping mark key milestones in peoples lives both happy and sad.’
Wildes believes that the government is not following the science and says that the hospitality sector is being made out as a scapegoat when cases of Covid-19 rise. He wants to see more being done to represent the constituency from local MPs and points to how London is under tier 2 restrictions despite many areas having a higher rate of covid-19 per 100,000.
Although the hotel is feeling the strain with the restrictions in place, Wildes and the senior management team have committed to helping their local community over the festive period by:
i. Helping our neighbours who are less fortunate than us by providing free meals to those who as a result of this cruel lockdown cannot afford to feed themselves.
ii. Donating Christmas gifts to families with children who could not afford to put presents under their trees this Christmas for their little ones.
iii. Offering jobs to the people of Bolsover who have lost theirs through no fault of their own.
iv. Staff will be calling our guests many of them who have become friends to offer support and a friendly voice in these lonely times
