‘Volcano of unemployment set to explode’ – top restaurant boss’s warning to Boris
ONE of Britain’s most powerful business tycoons has called for urgent action to avert a looming jobs crisis.
Restaurateur and private members’ club mogul Richard Caring warned thousands of businesses and their employees are currently in the ‘eye of a storm’ – surviving thanks only to the Government’s taxpayerfunded furlough scheme.
And he claims that as soon as state-aid measures are withdrawn, as many as 50 to 60 per cent of the four-millionstrong hospitality workforce could be laid off and restaurants, cafes and bars shut for good.
Mr Caring, whose empire chain includes The Ivy Collection, which has premises in Edinburgh and Glasgow, said: ‘The beginning of the lockdown gave us an initial shock.
‘Now it’s quite calm because people are furloughed, businesses are not paying rent, they are not paying rates, staff don’t have the expense of going to work, they don’t have the expense of going out. So as a restaurateur, you can sit tight and survive. That’s what everyone’s doing. But we’re in the eye of a storm.
‘Down the road there’s a volcano that is going to bubble over. Unless we wake up to it, it’s going to be horrendous. It’s going to go bang, spewing out unemployed people.’
Mr Caring called on Boris Johnson to reduce the twometre social distancing rule and print more money to prop up struggling firms.
He said: ‘At 1.5 metres social distancing, as a restaurant you have a chance.
‘If they can do it elsewhere, why not here? I would print a lot more money because this devastation is going to last a long time. What are they waiting for?’