Plan B restrictions will 'devastate industry'

Pubs, bars and restaurants could not survive a second Christmas lost to restrictions if the government caves to growing pressure to impose “plan B” measures to curb the rise in coronavirus cases.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said on Wednesday that while new infections could hit a record 100,000 a day, he would not reintroduce measures such as working from home or compulsory mask-wearing “at this time”.

The British Medical Association responded, saying it would be “wilful negligence” not to enact the government’s plan B in England to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.

Phil Urban, chief executive of Mitchells & Butlers, said ministers had left it too late to address rising case numbers and that any action now could devastate the industry.

“People are very nervous and if you move to plan B, it puts Christmas at risk,” he said. “The industry is not out of the woods and just as we get our momentum back, we’d have the rug pulled out from under us.”

He said some restrictions, such as mask-wearing, would be tolerable as long as tougher curbs that could put festive trade at risk were avoided.

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UK Hospitality, said businesses typically earn 40% of their annual profit between Halloween and New Year’s Eve.

“We lost Christmas in its entirety last year, so it’s desperately important for survivability, getting you through the bleak months of January and February when people don’t come out as much,” she said.

“A lot of businesses are still fragile. Any knock at this point in time could have an impact on viability. People will just go to the wall.”

Nicholls said customers were already cautious about booking ahead for the festive period as Covid-19 cases rise, with the UK this week recording the highest number of deaths since March. Advance bookings for the festive period would usually be 90% complete by the August bank holiday, she said, but were running at much lower levels this year.

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, warned that restrictions on that scale would be “catastrophic”.

“We don’t want to end up being the scapegoat for an issue that isn’t around our industry,” he said, adding that evidence suggested the biggest rise in cases was in secondary schools.