‘Christmas heartbreak’: Jobs and food waste warnings issued as hospitality leaders vent frustration at Home Counties’ plunge into Tier 3

The hospitality industry registered a further blow today as huge swathes of the south-east were plunged into Tier 3.

London’s prosperous commuter belt is to come under the harshest restrictions from Saturday after reporting soaring Covid-19 case levels.

Health secretary Matt Hancock announced the move in parliament on Thursday. 

It prompted immediate consternation and backlash from pub operators, business leaders and representative bodies, coming just days after London was quickly shut down under the strict tier measures - which mean pubs and restaurants are only allowed to open for takeaways.

It comes during two of the most profitable weeks of the year for hospitality. Venues bring in revenues many traditionally rely on to see them through the lean January and February period.

The British Beer & Pub Association said that the move will mean more than 32,500 pubs - 85% of the total number of pubs in England - “are now at risk of permanent closure”.

Chief executive, Emma McClarkin, said: “More regions being placed under tier three restrictions means more closed businesses, leaving the future of Britain’s pubs truly hanging by a thread this Christmas.

“Unless there is a greater package of financial support from the Government to secure our pubs, permanent closures, lost livelihoods and the destruction of valued community locals is sadly inevitable."

Jonathan Neame is chief executive of Britain's oldest brewer Shepherd Neame, which owns and operates 319 pubs across London and the South- East.

He told the Standard the Government’s move “is an abject failure of strategy and leadership”.

He said: “The Government is relying on dodgy data, prejudice and ignorance to shut one of the largest and most successful sectors in the UK, without adequate compensation and no clear escape route.”

Major trade body, UKHospitality, warned that the move will heap “further despair” onto “already hard-pressed businesses” and lead to further job losses.

Latest UK unemployment figures showed around a third of all job losses seen since February were in the hospitality sector. Of a total 819,000 job losses since February, 297,000 were in the sector.

Pubs and restaurants across the south-east stocked up on beer and Christmas meal food in anticipation of continuing to trade under Tier 2 levels - serving alcohol with substantial meals - over the festive period.

The move to Tier 3 is likely to see businesses desperately attempting to sell-off or donate now-surplus stock, as has occurred in London this week. Venues will still have to pay suppliers, and if they are not able, the pain will ripple further down the supply chain.

UK Hospitality chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “Businesses will have bought stock which will now go to waste, and more people will lose work at a stressful time. 

“Hotels are now facing a deluge of short-notice cancellations because of the tightening of restrictions. What was already looking like a bleak Christmas is now looking like a total write-off.

“More financial support most be forthcoming if we are to have any hope that these businesses will survive. They can trade their way out of danger next year only if they are still around to do so.”

All of Surrey except Waverley, the whole of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and part of Hampshire are affected. Hastings and Rother, which are close to the Kent border, are also included, as are Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant.

The Tier 3 rules mean pubs, restaurants and cafés have to close along with theatres, indoor play centres, casinos, bingo halls and cinemas. There is also a ban on socialising in private gardens, while hotels and guest houses must close except for essential purposes.

Large increases in Covid-19 cases have been seen in commuter belt towns including Woking, Surrey, which saw rates rise from 184 cases per 100,000 residents at the end of November, to a high of 277.8 cases per 100,000 in the most recent official data.

In Epsom & Ewell, also in Surrey, the rate has surged from 139 to 237; in Surrey Heath, from 121 to 228 and in Spelthorne from 118 to 247.