Proposed by Finance Minister, Conor Murphy, the new scheme will mean that beleaguered licensees in the Derry City & Strabane District Council area can receive up to £600 per week until the restrictions in the region have been lifted.

The announcement will come as a relief to hospitality venues all over the north-west, most of whom have been forced to shut their businesses since the new, harsher restrictions came into effect.

Hospitality businesses in the Derry and Strabane district are now only able to offer a delivery or take-away service or, if they have outside facilities, they can serve a maximum of 15 customers. All cultural attractions have been closed.

Making the announcement at lunchtime today (Wednesday), Minister Murphy said:  “The restrictions imposed in Derry & Strabane are necessary to preserve lives, but they have a very damaging impact on the hospitality sector. Today I am introducing a Grant Support Scheme to assist those businesses forced to temporarily limit their operations.

“Small businesses will receive £800 for every two weeks they are closed. Larger businesses will receive £1,200 for two weeks. This is above comparable schemes on these islands.”

The grant scheme is in addition to the 12 months rates holiday which continues until the end of March 2021.

Speaking to this magazine yesterday, publican Niall McDermott, who owns two wet bars in Derry/Londonderry – The Phoenix and The Park Bar – said that he’d had little option but to close his businesses when the new rules were introduced.

‘We were only able to open our doors on September 23 and then we had to close again yesterday,’ he confirmed. ‘We do have an off-licence at one of the bars and it’s doing a bit of business but if it hadn’t been for the furlough scheme, there would definitely have been job losses.’

Niall, who employs 12 full and part-time staff, said that as soon as he learned of plans to introduce new, tighter measures in the north-west, he thought, ‘Here we go again.’

‘The whole thing is just up the left and all [these restrictions] will do is force more people into going to house parties rather than to the bar where there is a controlled environment.’

Welcoming news of the new financial aid package, Colin Neill from trade body, Hospitality Ulster (HU) said that it was ‘a much-needed intervention which cannot get to businesses quick enough’. But he added:

‘Right across Northern Ireland, hospitality businesses are fighting for survival especially in the Derry and Strabane area, and while this financial package will help some, for many it will still not cover all the bills which need paid. After the pressures of the last six months, it is no exaggeration to say that for many, money has simply run out,’ he went on.

‘These businesses are facing a very bleak period and it is only right that the Finance Minister has promptly delivered this grant scheme. Hospitality businesses in the north-west have not had a proper or fair chance to trade for a large part of this year and we hope that this quick fix will only be a temporary measure. The hospitality industry is particularly important to the north-west economy and it is vital that it is allowed to reopen in a safe way following the end of the current restrictions.’

Mr Neill also said that it was important for everyone in the wider community to ‘double down’ on their efforts to bring the spread of infection under control so that when the restrictions in force in the north-west come up for review in a couple of weeks’ time, hospitality businesses will be allowed to resume trading.

The post Aid package announced for NW hospitality appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

Since yesterday (Monday), hospitality businesses in the region – where virus infections have surged in recent days – have been limited to takeaway, delivery and restricted outdoor dining and all cultural attractions have been closed.

Trade body, Hospitality Ulster, said today that the entire industry was standing with colleagues in the north-west with the message, ‘You are not alone’.

‘Our industry faces many challenges across the province, sustainability being one of them. The hospitality industry in Derry and Strabane is fighting for its survival today as restrictions are now in place that effectively amount to a lockdown of the sector,’ said HU chief executive, Colin Neill.

Mr Neill said that effectively, businesses in the area were now in the same position they had been at the outset of the crisis in March and that a substantial rescue package was essential to mitigate the losses that would be sustained over the next two weeks.

‘Allowing only 15 people maximum indoors gives the illusion that the sector s open, but the stark reality is that it cannot and has effectively been given no option but to be better off shut,’ he went on.

‘The north-west has an economic disaster on its hands and it is imperative for those in the sector to get immediate aid and support. This is not a time for procrastination. We need money and support directed to those in the industry who are rapidly losing hope for their businesses and their employees at the front end of the newly imposed restrictions across the council area.’

Niall McDermott, who owns two wet pubs in the city – The Phoenix and The Park Bar – told LCN today (Tuesday) that he’d had little option but to close his premises when the tighter coronavirus restrictions took effect.

‘We were only able to open our doors on September 23 and then we had to close again yesterday,’ he confirmed. ‘We do have an off-licence at one of the bars and it’s doing a bit of business but if it hadn’t been for the furlough scheme, there would definitely have been job losses.’

Niall, who employs 12 full and part-time staff, said that as soon as he learned of plans to introduce new, tighter measures in the north-west, he thought, ‘Here we go again.’

‘The whole thing is just up the left and all [these restrictions] will do is force more people into going to house parties rather than to the bar where there is a controlled environment.’

He also said that he was ‘very worried’ about the prospects for his business going forward:

‘Furlough is coming to a close at the end of October and I don’t think that the new scheme which is coming in is worth talking about,’ he added. ‘I am very concerned about what is going to happen between now and Christmas.’

Niall believes that a two-week ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown is also a distinct possibility and says that he has little option now but to wait for the situation to improve:

‘Hopefully the rate of infection will slow down and we’ll be able to get opened up again…hopefully.’

The post HU demands urgent rescue package for NW hospitality appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

With Covid-19 detections surging across the north-west, where the R rate is now at least 2, First Minister Arlene Foster said yesterday (Thursday) that hospitality outlets would now be limited to outdoor dining, takeaways and deliveries while hotels can only provide services to residents, those who have weddings booked and funeral teas. Wet pubs are now only able to serve customers outdoors.

The restrictions were announced along with a package of additional measures including a ban on organised indoor gatherings, new limits on indoor and outdoor sporting events and the closure of museums, galleries and cultural attractions.

Mrs Foster acknowledged that the measures would come as a ‘hammer blow’ to businesses and said that discussions were already underway around the level of support that could be offered.

Hospitality Ulster chief, Colin Neill described the new regime in the north-west as ‘a devastating blow’ and predicted that it would cause the closure of many businesses.

The announcement came as two further NI deaths from Covid-19 were confirmed. Almost 2000 people here have tested positive for the virus within the last week. The Derry City and Strabane council area is now among the worst regions in the UK for infections – the number of cases there per 100,000 people is almost three times the NI average.

The post North-west venues hit by new virus restrictions appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

The Beech Hill hotel in Derry-Londonderry represents an initial foray into the local hospitality trade for The House Collection – the first step in what this partnership of like-minded entrepreneurs is hoping will eventually become a network of stylish country house hotels across Ireland.

Adam and Barry Kemp and Sam Harding bought the well-respected hotel on the outskirts of the city in the autumn from the O’Kane and Donnelly families who have owned and run the Beech Hill for the last two decades.

Five new jobs were quickly announced and the trio visited the 400-year-old property in October to reveal more of their ambitious plans for its development.

Their vision for the hotel involves re-packaging it as a leading Irish wedding venue and many of the improvements currently underway and planned at the Beech Hill are with that objective in mind. But speaking to LCN in December, House Collection MD, Sam Harding revealed that the partners have broader plans for their newest acquisition:

‘What we really want is for this place to be timeless, to look as if it’s always been here,’ he explains. ‘There are 28 bedrooms – 14 in the original house and 14 in the new wing – and eventually, we’re going to tell the story of the whole property and follow it through all of its 400 years. We’re going to look at each of the rooms in the original house and re-theme them so that each has its own identity.’

It’s part of a deliberate strategy by the partners who share the same vision of a boutique chain of quality Irish hotels:

‘We bought this particular hotel because it ticked the boxes for us,’ says Sam. ‘We’re not offering the sort of thing that you look to city centre hotels to provide. We want our offering to be unique and to tell its own strong stories. This is a 400-year-old building with a huge amount of history and we want people to come and stay here for the experience, not because they need to stay in Derry for meetings or whatever.’

London-born Sam Harding (38), comes to the House Collection with a strong background in retail and hospitality. A former marketing manager for leading sports brand, Reebok, he has also worked in the fast-paced environment of five-star cruise liners. He spent almost three years working for Merlin Entertainments, which owns the Alton Towers resort and he was operations director for Macau-based entertainment group, Melco for four-and-a-half years.

‘I have experience of the service and operating standards of some of the best businesses in the world and what we’re aiming to do is bring those standards into our business here in Ireland,’ Sam tells LCN. ‘There are lots of family-owned, country house hotels in the UK and Ireland that have been run by the same people for years, run their own way. What we aim to do is run each of our hotels as professionally-organised businesses.’

The three partners have known and worked with each other for around 10 years and at one time, Barry and Sam worked together on a project in the Middle East.

While Sam oversees the business as a whole, Barry uses his background in the hospitality trade to take care of the day-to-day running of the business while Adam – an aeronautical engineer by trade – ensure that the right systems and processes are in place.

As well as the Beech Hill, The House Collection also owns a gastro-pub called The House in Donegal Town, which it opened a year ago. It currently has a five-star rating on Trip Advisor.

This is the fledgling group’s first business in Northern Ireland and Sam says that they’ve found the hospitality environment here to be ‘fantastic’.

‘The thing for us is that we specifically focus on the north-west of Ireland,’ he says. ‘We think that it’s the most beautiful part of the country along that Causeway Coast to Donegal and the Wild Atlantic Way. The south coast of Galway and Cork and Kerry have got a lot of attention, but we feel that this area is still somewhat untapped from a marketing perspective and it’s much more raw and beautiful for that reason.

‘This is a 400-year-old building with a huge amount of history and we want guests to come and stay here for the experience they will have.’

As for the Beech Hill, work is currently underway to create a new cellar restaurant and pub at the hotel. Offering around 80 covers, that work should be finished on schedule by April.

‘In the longer term, our biggest focus is going to be on weddings, we really want to be seen as the best wedding venue and the best four-star hotel in the city,’ says Sam. ‘Eventually, we want this to be the complete wedding and leisure venue where people come to spend the weekend, take in the grounds and just have a really good time.’

The House Collection has a clear vision in place and the group intends to grow in 2019 with the acquisition of other properties. Negotiations have already started with interested parties in the region.

‘We have been building the base of the group structure since we acquired Beech Hill and we see this as the perfect place to build our model, then roll it out across other properties,’ said Sam. ‘We want to be careful and selective and we want the right properties that are unique and present us with great opportunities.’

‘We want to be careful and strategic with this, we have to find the right properties.’

Another focus for 2019 will be on staff. Sam says that they want The House Collection to be seen as an employer of choice:

‘We want people to see hospitality as a career, rather than somewhere that they work an 80-hour week for two years and burn themselves out,’ he adds. ‘We believe there is a big difference in customer service and hospitality. Customer service is a skill, but hospitality is the personal touch and we think we’ll make a bigger difference because of that.

‘What we want is to have hotels that are quintessentially Irish because when people abroad think of Ireland, they see it in warm and friendly terms, but that’s very often not what they get when they arrive.’

The post The start of something big… appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.