‘THEY’VE RUINED CHRISTMAS FOR ALL WHO WORK IN HOSPITALITY’
Call for eatery ban on anyone who lobbied for extra restrictions
CITY centre bars and restaurants are being urged to ban all those people who lobbied for Tier 2 lockdown restrictions to be imposed on Stokeon-trent.
Ant Turner, who runs The Corner in Piccadilly, Hanley, has hit out at council staff and councillors who called for extra restrictions to come into force across the city from today.
The council, local MPS and public health officials lobbied Health Secretary Matt Hancock to ask for restrictions to be tightened after Covid-19 hospitalisations jumped from seven to 94 in just two weeks. Tier 2 restrictions include: No socialising with anybody outside your household or support bubble in any indoor setting;
Pubs and restaurants must only serve food where people are seated and close between 10pm and 5am.
Restaurateur Mr Turner lost bookings for around 30 people after the announcement that the city would be bumped up a tier on Thursday.
He says anybody in the hospitality or bar industry will be lucky to survive the next six months. He said: “I lost about six tables’ worth of bookings on Thursday night. It’s terrible. So far we’ve lost around 25 to 30 people and that’s before walk-ins. So on Friday we had about eight people in, and it’s not really viable to have staff.
“If anyone in hospitality says they’re doing alright at the moment they’re lying. To put it bluntly we are ******. We had just started to pick back up last weekend. But on Thursday I was ready to throw my shoes through the TV when I saw the announcement.
“Hospitality has been made a scapegoat. If anybody is still going in the bar or hospitality industry in Stoke-on-trent in six months they’ve done very well.
“Whoever has pushed it forward to go into Tier 2 here should be banned from every bar and restaurant in Hanley and Stoke-on-trent. “They’ve just ruined Christmas for everybody who works in hospitality or bars in Stoke-on-trent. This is the time we make our money.” Announcing that Stoke-on-trent City Council had asked Government to push the city into Tier 2, council leader Abi
Brown said: “If there was ever a time for people to support local businesses, now is that time. The new restrictions do not mean you cannot go out for a meal, and that is something I am planning to do with my family.”