Big Up Bristol Campaign to help us through Tier 3

It was pretty obvious Tier 3 was coming but it’s still a massive kick in the teeth. It’s going to be a very tough few months ahead for a lot of business owners. It’s the last straw for many.

Nathan Lee, of Hyde & Co

THIS time last year, Bristol’s hospitality trade was on a high after being named the best culinary destination in the world.

A year on, and many of those brilliant independent businesses that gave Bristol its award-winning food and drink scene are at rock bottom.

The Government announced last week that the city will enter Tier 3 restrictions from Wednesday, meaning pubs and restaurants will be forced to stay shut at least until December 16 for all except takeaway or delivery services.

This means they cannot open fully in the weeks leading up to Christmas – usually the busiest and most profitable period of the year – before the traditionally quieter months of January and February.

Industry leaders fear 80 per cent of pubs, restaurants, music venues and nightclubs in Bristol could shut if the city remains in Tier 3 and there isn’t more support by March.

The measures will be reviewed on December 16 when there’s a possibility Bristol could drop down a tier, but even if this happens business owners would face an uphill battle getting their sites ready to open at such short notice.

So the Post and our website BristolLive have launched a campaign calling for additional support from the government and from all of us for Bristol’s hospitality industry.

We’re encouraging everyone to #BigUpBristol, to shout about your favourite independents on social media, to help fund your local business by buying a takeaway or even by buying a meal for when they reopen.

And we’re calling on the Government to help too – to give these businesses the financial support to ensure they survive through the pandemic and into 2021 and beyond.

Nathan Lee, co-owner of the Hyde & Co group, which includes The Ox, Bambalan, Seven Lucky Gods, Milk Thistle and the eponymous Hyde & Co, said a difficult period lies ahead for the industry.

“It was pretty obvious Tier 3 was coming but it’s still a massive kick in the teeth,” he said. “It’s going to be a very tough few months ahead for a lot of business owners.

“After the first lockdown we invested heavily in adapting to all the necessary measures to allow us to operate safely and we were hoping to pick up where we left off in December, which is a really key time for the industry

“It was challenging operating with so many new guidelines but at least we were able to be open in some capacity, and we proved we could do it in a safe way.

“The Government has singled out hospitality and says it’s the source of most of the infections, but that hasn’t been proved. It’s really disappointing and frustrating.

“Obviously Bristol’s rates did go up but it wasn’t anything to do with hospitality; it was after students came back to town and schools reopened.

“I know the Government is having to make some difficult decisions but this feels a little too arbitrary. It feels odd that we can go to the gym and go to get our haircut but we can’t sit in a restaurant.

“It’s the last straw for many and I know a lot of people are very close to giving up.”

Under the banner of Big Up Bristol, we will be speaking to business owners across the city about the impact Tier 3 is having on them and how people can support them.

We will also be encouraging companies to spend money that was earmarked for staff Christmas parties with local pubs and restaurants instead.

At a national level we will be calling on the Government to provide more financial support for hospitality businesses hit hard by Tier 3 restrictions.

Nathan added: “For the second lockdown we received grants between £1,500 and £3,000 at each restaurant, which didn’t cover much at all.

“We have running costs to cover whether we’re open or not so those small amounts of money get swallowed up very quickly.

“While the furlough scheme has been very helpful, it still costs money to keep staff on as we have to find money for their national insurance and pensions.

“So we’re asking the Government for a pause on business owners having to pay employees’ NI contributions and would also like the VAT cut to be extended through to when we’re able to reopen.

“Just some recognition from the Government that we’ve battled through this scenario with minimal support would be nice.”

Brendan Murphy, co-founder of Bristol Association of Restaurants, Bars and Independent Establishments (BARBIE) agrees that Tier 3 is a disaster – and that is why he’s getting behind our campaign.

“Tier 3 was expected and now that it has been confirmed it paints a really bleak picture for the Bristol food, drink and night-time economy,” he said.

“The industry requires immediate support, whether a long-term investment from Bristol City Council or solutions from national Government.

“It’s time for landlords to take some of the burden as they will still be asking for rent and the current support packages do not go nearly far enough for venues to survive.

“If the Government could step in with paying rent or give the bigger landlords some form of tax incentives it would really help.”

Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, is also backing the #BigUpBristol campaign.

She said: “It’s very clear these businesses have been very badly hit and the support they’ve had so far is not enough. The government has announced grants but people have fallen through the gaps.

“When Manchester and Liverpool were going into Tier 3 they had negotiations with the Government about how much support was necessary but this time there don’t seem to be those negotiations.”

MPs Thangam Debonnaire, for Bristol West, and Darren Jones, for Bristol North West, have also expressed their support for the #BigUpBristol campaign.

Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District – which includes more than 200 retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in the city – is backing calls for a new support package for the sector.

It has joined national trade body UKHospitality’s call for a “bounce back” grant, help with National Insurance payments for staff on furlough, help with rates and an extended cut in VAT.

UKHospitality has warned the new Tier 3 system will result in 74 per cent of hospitality businesses becoming unviable by March 2021.

Keith Rundle, operations director at Bristol City Centre BID, said: “Hospitality and leisure businesses employ thousands of people in Bristol and are a keystone of the local economy. They are more in need of support now than at any previous time during 2020.

“The hospitality sector has already been hugely compromised in terms of the restrictions they’ve had to operate under, as well as full closures through two lockdowns.

“This is usually a peak trading period so to be unable to open at all is devastating. Even when they have been able to open, they’ve had considerably reduced capacity. This will be even further reduced due to winter and the loss of outside seating as a realistic option.

“Pubs and bars that don’t serve food are of course hardest hit as they have very little other option in terms of offering take away or delivery.

“But one of the toughest challenges is the stop-start nature of the restrictions. In order to open, pubs, bars and restaurants need to order stock, find and book staff, from bar and kitchen staff to security and cleaning services, so even if they can re-open on December 16, they need to know that well in advance.

“These businesses all want to operate safely, so they need to carry out risk assessments and put plans in place, but it’s almost impossible to do so when they don’t know what the new rules will look like.”

Lisa Black, general manager of The Beer Emporium said: “Now faced with Tier 3 we are simply not sure what lies ahead for our business. It’s a very uncertain time with no income coming in at all. Our rent and bills don’t stop, our suppliers still have to be paid.

“We are at the mercy of the Government, hoping it will step in.”