Following the update from the Government on the restrictions of a 10pm curfew across hospitality sites, which comes into effect tonight, Greene King's CEO has made comment.
Nick Mackenzie, chief executive, (pictured), said, “Pubs are just starting to get back on their feet after lockdown and these new restrictions are a significant setback. We urgently need the government to extend the furlough scheme for hospitality venues and confirm what additional support it will provide to protect jobs and the future of pubs.
“We made safety our priority when reopening and fewer than 1% of our 1,700 managed pubs have been contacted by NHS Test & Trace since reopening in July, which demonstrates pubs are not disproportionately spreading cases and our measures are working.
“Removing a key trading period and further damaging customer confidence looks set to cost us several million pounds per week on top of already reduced customer numbers in our pubs to maintain social distancing.'
Mackenzie concluded, 'Given these restrictions and likely timescales we need support from government to avoid further job losses in the hospitality sector in addition to the 135,000 so far.”
(image: BRR Media)