Hospitality has been pleading for over a week with the Treasury to provide additional financial support following weeks of spiraling booking cancellations – and today, at last, Rishi Sunak has responded.
The Chancellor this afternoon unveiled new measures of financial support for the sector in the form of one-off £6k grants for businesses hit by Covid-19, following a week of mounting criticism that saw him accused of not acting swiftly enough and even ‘going into hiding’.
The new measures announced today will enable businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors to claim a one-off cash grant of up to £6,000 – but many operators seem to feel that this barely scratches the surface.
Sunak has also said the government will be reintroducing the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme, which enables small and medium-sized businesses to claim government compensation to cover employees’ sick pay.
However, restaurateurs, landlords and other industry experts have been quick to point out that this isn’t really enough to tide over a sector that relies on Christmas takings to see it through into the spring.
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Sacha Lord, Manchester’s Night Time Economy Advisor, has been very outspoken when it comes to fighting the corner of Manchester’s small hospitality businesses – many of whom are facing closure without a significant package of support and are hoping to see further measures such as the return of furlough and business rates relief reintroduced.
Following the Chancellor’s announcement, he was quick to tweet his thoughts on the new package, which boiled down to the succinct summary: “It’s not a package. It’s an insult.”
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We’re providing new support worth £1bn including:
➡️New grants for hospitality & leisure sectors – up to £6,000 per business premises.
➡️Adding £30m to the Culture Recovery Fund to support culture.
Elsewhere, UK Hospitality tweeted their support of the measures, stating: “We’re pleased @RishiSunak has listened to our pleas.
“This is a generous package building on existing support measures to provide an immediate emergency cash injection for those businesses who, through no fault of their own, have seen their most valuable trading period annihilated.”
However, it doesn’t appear that this take has gone down well with the majority of hospitality operators on Twitter – with a torrent of replies to UK Hospitality suggesting many still feel let down and forgotten.
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Scott McVittie tweeted: “Sounds generous for headlines but that barely covers a fraction of the monthly payroll. @UKHospKate this minimises they crisis we are facing”
Marshall Stephens said: “‘Generous’ I lost that much in cancellations last week.”
Whilst Gareth Walters said: “This is the opposite to the reaction I’ve seen across bar/restaurant businesses – no one using the phrase generous”
The Treasury justifies the pitiful level of support because there are "fewer insolvencies" (insolvency rules have been suspended for two years) and "higher vacancies" (there's a recruitment crisis thanks to Brexit) and hospitality has "more cash in the bank" than March 2020. 1/2
£6k isn’t even a weeks trading. We’re drowning. Every day you don’t lock us down but tell people to stay home we haemorrhage money. We can’t send staff home but we bring no money in. We need a furlough scheme and serious guidance so we can plan what to do
Lazy Lounge added, “Without a furlough scheme, £6,000 isn’t enough to get through 5 days let alone what could quite possible be the next few months.
“Madness! Thousands still going to lose their jobs and many businesses going to disappear.”
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Whilst Zoey Clarke said, “6k!? What a slap in the face. That wouldn’t cover the wine order for Christmas. How are you claiming this is generous, will it cover just one week’s salary for an SME?! Rent, tax, lost income. Hopeless. Thank God @Sacha_Lord is here.”
Following a week in which the hospitality industry’s pleas have fallen on seemingly deaf ears, it seems there is more still to be done following these announcements – with many hoping they can continue to pile on the pressure to get more support from the Treasury.
Clearly, more needs to be done in order for hospitality to truly feel supported – especially with reports of further restrictions continuing to loom on the horizon.
Rishi Sunak, however, has said that he thinks the government has responded ‘generously’.
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He told Sky News: “We’ve responded I think generously today.
“The grants that we’ve outlined, up to £6,000 pounds, are comparable to grants that we provided to hospitality businesses when they were completely closed earlier this year so there’s a benchmark for you.”
Feature image – SKY / Albert’s Schloss
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Yellow weather warning issued for Parklife weekend with thunderstorms forecast
Daisy Jackson
A yellow weather warning has been issued for Greater Manchester over the weekend – just as Parklife festival gets underway.
The Met Office has predicted thunderstorms may hit the region on Saturday, the first day of the two-day party up at Heaton Park.
There’s a yellow weather warning in place across much of the UK over the coming days, but it doesn’t come into force in Greater Manchester until Saturday.
The Met Office is currently predicting wet weather for Parklife festival-goers on day one, with a 70% chance of light rain from the time the gates open until early evening.
It’s then might to brighten up and is likely to be dry, if a little cloudy, into the evening.
The yellow weather warning for thunderstorms is in place from midnight until 6pm on Saturday 14 June.
Temperatures are expected to peak at around 21°C
As for Sunday at Parklife, which will be headlined by none other than Charli XCX, the weather is looking a lot more settled, if a bit cooler.
There are forecasted highs of 18°C and lows of 12°.
While the day will begin quite overcast, it’s expected to really brighten up with sunny intervals in the afternoon and into the evening.
Back in 2023, when thunderstorms hit Manchester during Parklife, the entire festival had to be momentarily halted.
On that occasion, festival-goers were told to ‘keep away from metal structures’ and all the live music was paused.
Poundland facing ‘significant store closures’ after being sold for just £1
Danny Jones
Long-standing British bargain brand Poundland could be set to close a number of locations across the UK after being sold for just £1.
The franchise famed for selling things for just a quid has been a mainstay on the high streets for what feels like it’s been around for as long as most of us can remember, but has been struggling to compete in the discount market.
Opened in 1990, Poundland was eventually bought by Polish variety store chain Pepco Group back in 2016, but has now been auctioned off after struggling sales over the past few years.
As per a press release from the company, Pepco decided to sell the business to American investment firm Gordon Brothers for what reports cited as a “nominal fee” – a figure now revealed to be £1.
Credit: The Manc Group
Poundland’s former boss, Barry Williams, left the brand in 2023 but was reinstated in at the start of this year to help the business and the Group’s European counterparts (Pepco and Dealz).
Sharing an official update with The Manc, the returning MD and CEO said, “Poundland is a UK and Ireland retailer of real significance, serving 20 million customers each year with a much-loved brand.
“Although recent trading has been challenging, we have built a turnaround plan with a simplified and more focused Poundland at its heart, as we aim to deliver the amazing value our customers expect.
“In due course, we’ll share more details of the proposed restructuring and turnaround. I’d like to thank Pepco for its stewardship of the business. We welcome Gordon Brothers and look forward to working with them as we implement our turnaround plan.”
As for Gordon Bros themselves, the American group with outposts all over the globe, says it is “delighted” to be providing the bargain brand with “the financing to support the substantial turnaround of this iconic retailer.”
Even with their own hardships, Poundland stores have still been providing a much-needed cut-price place to shop for those looking to save wherever they can amid the cost of living crisis, not to mention taking over previous Wilko stores and helping bail out others in need.
Before Poundland were sold, they also helped prop-up those hit by the Wilkos falling into administration.
According to Retail Gazette, an approximate £80 million cash injection has been pledged to help support their 800 stores and roughly 16,000 staff across the UK and Ireland.
Nevertheless, BBC sources understand that the even with the new backing, the proposed restructuring of the company which will be put before the High Court here in England could still “involve a significant number of store closures.”
Meanwhile, an official statement from Pepco’s Stephan Borchert reads: “The agreed sale of Poundland marks an important milestone in our strategic plan to move away from FMCG and focus predominantly on Pepco, our higher margin clothing and general merchandise business…
“Poundland remains a key player in UK discount retail, with millions of customers annually and a well-loved brand and proposition. We want to sincerely thank Poundland for their ongoing commitment and contribution to the Group and wish Barry Williams and his team all the best for the future.”
Georgina Pellant -
21st December 2021 
