Two-thirds say April opening not viable

Almost two-thirds (63%) of those surveyed said that it was not viable for them to reopen in April when outside trading is permitted, according to the latest Hospitality Leader’s Poll from Lumina Intelligence.

Thirty-percent said they had no outside space, while 33% said it not viable for other reasons. Only 11% said reopening was definitely viable for them and that they would be embracing the new rules from 12 April.

Meanwhile four in five (83%) of respondents said they would be able to keep their business solvent until the dine-in/drink-in reopening date of 17 May, through a combination of grants, savings and investments. However 3% said that the 10-week wait would be too long, and they would be forced to enter insolvency proceedings.

The poll also found that there was a low level of confidence from the sector that the government’s roadmap for reopening the country would go to plan. Sixty-eight percent of those asked had low levels of confidence, compared to 17% who had a high degree of confidence and 13% that had a good level of confidence.

In the latest business confidence tracker, 60% of those surveyed said they were confident about the future of their business – relatively unchanged from 61% in the previous week’s poll.

• The Hospitality Leaders Poll is a conducted by Lumina Intelligence on behalf of MCA, BigHospitality and the Morning Advertiser.