Calls mount for NI hospitality aid package

Calls mount for NI hospitality aid package

In an industry which relies for its success on close personal contact between large numbers of people, Coronavirus has had a devastating effect. After months of total closure and a limited re-opening, most of the hospitality sector here is now contemplating a bleak winter which some of them are unlikely to survive.

Speaking to LCN this week, Hospitality Ulster’s Colin Neill summed up sentiment across the trade when he said, ‘People are desperate. They are being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice, they have no income and I do think that there is a moral duty on the government to step in and help.’

Some pubs and hotels have been trading in limited fashion since July 3, but so -called ‘wet pubs’ remain shuttered in NI after the Executive postponed plans to allow them to open on August 10. An indicative date of September 1 has now been given, but many fear that this re-opening will also be stalled.

In an attempt to alleviate mounting panic across the trade, HU has held a series of meetings with senior ministers and scientists at Stormont to discuss the re-opening of traditional pubs. During those discussion, Mr Neill said that a financial aid package was now essential if thousands of jobs across the country were to be saved.

Mr Neill warned that September 1 was ‘an eternity away’ with no guarantee that openings will go ahead even then.

‘The consequences of no support will mean that many jobs will be at risk on top of those who have already been made redundant,’ he said following the Stormont talks.

Speaking to LCN on Monday, he conceded that if the virus worsened in the community, it would make the task of re-opening hospitality more difficult, but he said that his organisation was doing all it could to secure support for all those affected by the coronavirus lockdown.

‘We want the furlough scheme extended and we want a financial package put in place,’ he added. ‘We are continuing to engage with ministers and continuing to help people in any way we can until we find a way out of this.’

bill wolsey
Beannchor’s Bill Wolsey

Bill Wolsey, one of NI’s leading hospitality operators, told this magazine in July that if the government refused to extend its furlough scheme, which ends in October, then there would be a ‘bloodbath’ in the trade here. And speaking this week, he repeated that claim:

‘If things don’t change then everything I said before is going to come to pass. For wet pubs particularly, this is a very difficult period. They are still closed, and it remains to be seen what will happen or when they will open,’ added Mr Wolsey.

Beannchor was one of the first to act as the threat from Coronavirus became clear in mid-March, laying off 800 staff and temporarily closing most of its considerable portfolio of bars and hotels.

‘I think that if the government doesn’t realise by now how important the hospitality industry is to the economy, then hundreds of thousands of people are going to be made redundant. I am hoping that on this occasion they will use some good sense and extend the furlough. I am also hoping that wet pubs will be able to open safely as well,’ added Mr Wolsey.

He also said that he felt it ‘defies logic’ to continue preventing wet pubs from opening while allowing trade to carry on in packed high street stores, and he added:

‘I do hope that someone is able to come up with a cure for this, but if they don’t and these issues show no signs of going away, then I don’t know where this will end.’

Paul Langsford is a director at the Clover Group which operates six venues in Belfast including White’s Tavern, The Fountain Bar and now, The Boneyard, a large open-air venue adjacent to Pug Ugly’s on Bedford Street. He says that while it’s no surprise that business is down, the Eat Out To Help Out scheme has been a ‘big success’.

‘It’s great to see most bars and restaurants full in the city on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights and the figures are well up on where they were previously,’ he reported. ‘It has affected Thursday and Friday slightly but that is outweighed by the success Monday to Wednesday…Even during the day, there is a lot more footfall about.’

Referring to recent large rises in the figures for Covid-19 infection in NI, Mr Langsford called on the government to extend its furlough scheme:

‘The way things are going at present, it’s not looking good. It could just be down to more people being tested and with the relaxation of some measures, I think it’s to be expected. An extension of the furlough scheme would allow us a little more time to get back to where we were and keep our people employed.

‘However, I think that the government has spent a lot of money and I am not sure that this would be affordable. I’m glad that it’s a decision I don’t have to make,’ he added.

 

Corner House
Trevor McCann’s Corner House at Derrymacash

At the Corner House in Derrymacash, near Lurgan, proprietor Trevor McCann is now trading from Thursday to Sunday in order to reduce overheads and secure jobs for his full-time staff.

And while he was full of praise for the support he has received from the local community, he conceded that business was down:

‘We’re trading well, but we’re nowhere near where we would normally be,’ he told LCN. ‘I am very fearful for the winter and the dark nights and the cold. We are looking at lots of different things to do, but the situation is grim. No-one knows what’s going to happen, this is uncharted territory and we don’t know what is round the corner.’

The government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme has been ensuring that many venues around the UK have been fully-booked between Mondays and Wednesdays throughout August, but Trevor isn’t a fan and hasn’t signed up to the promotion. He believes that the government could better help licensees by offering more direct help such as additional funding or VAT cuts and says that schemes such as Eat Out To Help Out would be better suited to boosting trade once the threat from the virus has begun to recede.

In the centre of Belfast, Ciaran Smyth hasn’t been able to trade at any of his venues since lockdown started. He owns Santeria, a small café/bar in Fountain Street, and Voodoo, a well-known live music venue just a few doors down. And he says that taking events in the RoI as a guide, it’s ‘starting to look very unlikely’ that wet pubs in the north will not be able to open on September 1.

Ciaran applied for a pavement trading licence in June, but still hasn’t received it so plans for seating outside Santeria have had to be put on hold.

‘I am considering what I should do. I could convert [Voodoo] into a restaurant, but this is a big black, open venue and it would take a lot of money to make it attractive for people to sit in. This is a really difficult situation.’

As for hotels, Noel McMeel, executive head chef at the luxury Lough Erne Resort and Golf Hotel in Fermanagh described business there as ‘phenomenal’ since it opened fully again on July 20.

‘It’s like being in a brand new hotel,’ he told LCN.

Food is available from a number of outlets throughout the venue and next week, its Catalina restaurant will switch to full-time service.

Staycation business at the Lough Erne is also strong and Noel says the hotel is currently about 70 per cent occupied.

‘I think it’s like everything, you have to stay positive and have a vision. Whether you have a hotel or a restaurant, the big thing has to be strategy and knowing how you’re going to fill the place in the second, third and fourth quarters,’ he added.

Janice Gault of the NI Hotels’ Federation confirmed on Monday that about 85 per cent of Northern Ireland’s hotel stock was open for business and that after a ‘sluggish start’, business was improving week-on-week.

‘Visitors are mainly domestic with numbers from the Republic of Ireland and GB increasing,’ she reported. ‘The summer staycation is proving to be very popular in rural destinations across all accommodation types with attractions and restaurants also reporting good trading.’

But she added:

‘Concerns remain about the autumn when we will see the end of furlough support, staycations starting to slow down and an uncertain time ahead.’