Yesterday’s announcements of further restrictions in Wales have been met with huge concern from businesses across sectors but particularly the hospitality industry.
Local lockdowns surrounding Cardiff have led to a significant downturn in trade in the last few weeks which added to increased costs to businesses. The end of Eat Out to Help Out scheme coupled with the end of school holidays has also resulted in a reduction in trade for many operators across all sectors.
On behalf of our member businesses, FOR Cardiff call for Welsh Government to:
- Open an urgent and honest dialogue with businesses and their representative bodies to develop a rapid, effective and efficient financial support package to protect the jobs that will otherwise be lost in their thousands across the country and to give businesses a fighting chance of survival.
- Review the 2 metre social distancing law with the aim of a 1m+ guideline – providing food led hospitality businesses the opportunity to offset the losses caused by reduced sittings each night by allowing increased numbers of covers.
- An assurance that rules will be monitored regularly and there should not be a fear of relaxing rules such as the 10pm curfew for alcohol sales in selected local authority areas rather than a pan Wales ruling – our businesses deserve rules to be locally evidenced based.
- “Avoiding non-essential travel” clarify that this does not include supporting local businesses, who have gone to huge lengths to provide a safe and welcoming environment for their customers
People and businesses need each other right now to ensure that once we come out of the other side of this, we still have businesses to shop, eat, drink, play and enjoy activities in which we all need to fulfil our lives.