Revolution Bars boss backs calls for ‘Minister for Hospitality’ and warns London’s ‘attraction as a global city’ at risk

The boss of bar chain Revolution today backed industry calls for a "Minister for Hospitality" as he said the company has prepared as best it can for "whatever madness the government throws at us for the next three or four months".

Group chief executive Rob Pitcher said on Thursday that officials' treatment of bars and late-night operators has been “nothing short of scandalous”. 

He revealed Covid restrictions have cost the business £11.3 million since March, and said that the firm has received direct business support - on top of furlough - of just £300,000.

His comments come after latest jobless figures showed around a third of reported UK job losses since March have been in the hospitality sector.

"We think the industry has clearly been scapegoated and 300,000 job losses so far [this year] is testament to that," he said.

Pitcher warned that he believes “it will take decades" for London to fully recover if the sector is not urgently given more support.

He said: “Without meaningful support so many amazing, independently run restaurants and bars will be lost forever, and that is going to take decades to come back. The appeal of moving from other cities, from other parts of the globe, to London will be lost, because the vibrancy won’t be there. 

“The attraction of London as a global city decreases with every day that hospitality is closed.”

The firm, which runs 74 bars nationwide under its Revolution and Revolucion de Cuba brands, today shared its results for the year to June 27. 

They revealed that even just the first few months of the pandemic hit the company hard. It reported a statutory pre-tax loss of £31.7 million, following a £5.6 million loss the year prior. 

The company saw revenues of £20.6 million for the past 24 weeks, representing a significant decline from £72.1 million for the same period last year, after a "cautious and phased" reopening of bars from July 6.

Last month, Revolution creditors gave the green light to a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) restructuring plan which saw the company cut 130 jobs, permanently shut six sites and reduce rents on seven other bars. Two London sites are set to close. 

But Pitcher said he is confident that Revolution will emerge from the crisis “as a more focused business” and is "well placed" for the future.

He said: "Work we have done internally as a company protects us from whatever madness the government throws at us for the next three or four months. We have planned on the basis of being fully closed to the spring.

"We were performing well pre-Covid. We were on track for reducing the company's debt to 1x our profit... Since Covid we have clearly done the CVA, we have raised £15million of equity, we have reduced expenditure, so we are well placed to get through [the pandemic].