London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Restaurants and pubs ‘face collapse’ during extended England lockdown

Restaurants and pubs ‘face collapse’ during extended England lockdown

Business groups call for government to support hospitality industry including nightclubs and bars
Business groups have warned that pubs, bars, restaurants and nightclubs face significant hardship or collapse after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in England was postponed for four weeks without new financial support from the government.

Full reopening without measures such as social distancing will not be allowed until 19 July, Boris Johnson said on Monday, with a review in two weeks’ time “unlikely” to result in an earlier relaxation.

But the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, shied away from offering any fresh funding package to prop up hard-pressed businesses that cannot trade profitably, or at all, under the restrictions.

The UK’s largest trade bodies joined hospitality businesses and trade unions in urging the government to change its mind and come up with new support measures, warning that businesses will be driven to the wall otherwise.

Tony Danker, the director general of Britain’s most powerful business lobby group, the CBI, said the government “must urgently revisit the support available”, including the tapering of business rates relief and a moratorium on landlords’ right to collect commercial rent.

Both are due to end on 1 July, signalling looming extra costs for debt-laden hospitality venues that will still be subject to restrictions on how many people they can serve.

The night-time economy, predominantly late-licence pubs and nightclubs, has been hit particularly hard, with most businesses having been closed for 15 months.

The Night Time Industries Association chief executive, Michael Kill, said the government had “switched the lights off” for the sector by extending restrictions – which include a bar on nightclubs reopening and limits on large events and performances – without offering any new help.

An NTIA survey found that one in four night-time economy firms, such as nightclubs and bars, don’t expect to survive the extra four weeks.

The co-founder of the London nightclub Fabric, Cameron Leslie, called the delay “a punch”, saying huge amounts had been spent getting ready for 21 June.

“You can’t just turn venues like Fabric on,” he said. “This is is a big machine that has been dismantled.”

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said the delay would cost pubs £400m and demanded more support and no further delay beyond 19 July. Pubs have been operating with reduced capacity because of social-distancing guidelines and limits on household mixing.

“Every week the current restrictions stay and uncertainty continues, the likelihood of pubs being lost forever increases,” said the BBPA chief executive, Emma McClarkin.

“Our pubs require as a minimum an immediate three-month extension to the business rates holiday, the ability to defer loan payments due now and a further extension of VAT support.

“Grants for businesses particularly affected, such as those pubs who cannot still reopen because of the current restrictions, must now also be put in place.”

Kate Nicholls, the head of UKHospitality, which represents pubs, hotels and restaurants, said many debt-laden firms in England would struggle to cope from 1 July, when they will have to start paying business rates again, albeit at reduced rates.

“For many small pubs and independent restaurants that would be the final nail in the coffin,” said Nicholls.

Pubs chain Greene King said the extra burden of business rates – a tax on commercial properties – would cost it £250,000 a week.

Nicholls also warned that business prospects were still mired in uncertainty about £2.5bn of rent debt that has built up during the pandemic.

Government officials are trying to broker a deal under which commercial landlords agree not to charge tenants the full amount for arrears on rent due since March 2020.

Under proposals put forward by the hospitality industry – and some property firms – tenants such as pubs and restaurants would get a further six months to negotiate with landlords.

Under the proposals the government would set a guideline that landlords forfeit 50% of rent debt. Where the two sides cannot agree on how much rent should be due, hospitality bosses want an official arbitration process that would last up to a further six months.

While restrictions will not be eased on most hospitality businesses, weddings can go ahead with more than 30 guests so long as social distancing measures are in place, the government said on Monday.

Siobhan Craven-Robins, a wedding planner and director of the National Association of Wedding Professionals, said the decision to allow larger celebrations to go ahead with socially distanced measures was partly good news but leaving only a week’s notice of a change in the roadmap was “massively disappointing.”

She said that venues would not be able to fit in their full compliment of guests with social distancing. “A lot of people will be uninvited and there will be another wave of postponements,” she said.

Most of the music festivals that were still slated to go ahead this summer will be cancelled without government support, the industry said.

The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) called for the government to provide guarantees so that festivals could secure the insurance they needed to welcome revellers.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×