The uncertain winter ahead for Yorkshire's hospitality businesses

After a boom in business over summer, colder weather, lockdowns and the winding-down of support schemes spells trouble ahead for Yorkshire’s beloved bars, restaurants, cafes and pubs.
Florencia Clifford, owner of Partisan, Micklegate, York.Florencia Clifford, owner of Partisan, Micklegate, York.
Florencia Clifford, owner of Partisan, Micklegate, York.

On March 16, when the UK’s coronavirus death toll had just hit 55, Boris Johnson instructed the public to avoid pubs, clubs, cafes and bars in an attempt to stem the rapidly accelerating spread of disease.

It would be several days, however, before the government would actually mandate these businesses to close; a period which chef Florencia Clifford today refers to as the “worst week of [her] life”.

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In the befuddling few days between encouraging the public to avoid crowded places and the announcement of the furlough scheme, Florencia - who runs Partisan cafe with her partner in York - had no idea what would become of the 38 staff she employed at the time.

Hyde Park Book Club has benefited from the move to home working over summer, encouraging remote employees to work there during the day.Hyde Park Book Club has benefited from the move to home working over summer, encouraging remote employees to work there during the day.
Hyde Park Book Club has benefited from the move to home working over summer, encouraging remote employees to work there during the day.

Thousands of business owners across the country were simultaneously losing sleep over the same issue: Jack Simpson, co-owner of cafe-bar Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, recalls crying with relief when the furlough scheme was finally announced:

“Knowing staff could go off and not be worried about their jobs meant we could just get on with thinking more medium and long term about what it [lockdown] meant for the business”.

Lockdown, in fact, gifted many hospitality businesses the time they needed to implement covid-secure guidelines ahead of reopening.

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When that time did come in July, it was marked by cautious optimism: customers were relieved to gain back a slice of normality, and spells of sunny weather allowed hospitality businesses to maximise the use of outdoor space to minimise transmission risks.

Andrew Kettle has not yet been able to re-open his bar and nightclub, Nightrain.Andrew Kettle has not yet been able to re-open his bar and nightclub, Nightrain.
Andrew Kettle has not yet been able to re-open his bar and nightclub, Nightrain.

Innovations such as Sheffield’s “pavement cafe” scheme allowed businesses to apply for extra outdoor seating, creating an atmosphere on city streets that many likened to European cafe culture.

In York, Florencia says that a permit for seating in the car park of Partisan saw them through the summer, after social distancing requirements slashed 50 covers indoors to just four tables: “I knew outside space was the only thing that would allow us to survive”.

In spite of a boom in business over summer, however, there remains a reason why outdoor cafe culture is a distinctly (southern) European phenomenon: in Spain, dining outdoors is often viable in November. In England, September can be cold enough to push people indoors, where transmission risks are significantly higher.

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It’s a reality many hospitality businesses are now facing as colder weather sets in: less willingness to sit outdoors coupled with reduced seating indoors. Add on top of this the winding down of the furlough scheme, the limiting ‘rule of six’ and a new 10pm curfew and the winter ahead begins to look daunting.

At Partisan, Florencia has been pondering the problem of the cold for some time. Currently, she’s obliged to keep the back door of the small cafe open to allow fresh air to circulate the building, creating a draft indoors in the process.

While she believes that fear of the virus means some people “will want to sit outside” in spite of changing weather, she’s aware that dropping temperatures could affect business indoors and out.

Initially, she thought of blankets to keep customers warm, before realising that each one would have to be deep-cleaned between customers on top of already-laborious hygiene duties.

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“There are just so many things you can’t do”, she says. “Maybe I should just put on my website that people will need to wrap up...and maybe we will have to shut the [back] door. I just don’t know”.

At Hyde Park Book Club, which benefits from an extensive outdoor area, Jack considers himself lucky: “the age group of people who come to us, a lot of them are students...they’ll be more up for some outdoor drinking”.

He acknowledges, however, that there are limits to how long even students will sit in the cold, and is currently looking for ways to adapt and bring more seating safely indoors.

At independent bar and music venue, Nightrain, in Bradford, co-director Andrew Kettle hasn’t even had the chance to road test the new, socially-distanced seating plan that’s seen a 400-person capacity reduced to just 75. The business has been closed since March, with a reopening date set for October 17.

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Since June, says Andrew, the business has been relying on government loan schemes such as the “bounce back” loan. While tiding them over for now, he says the loan “isn’t ideal” - the business is new and only started to break even in February of this year; soon they’ll have to begin paying the money back.

Though he says the end of the furlough scheme is a “worry for all grassroots music venues”, his biggest current concern is the £1.5bn of funding for the arts and culture sector which the government announced in July: Nightrain won’t find out whether they’ve qualified for a grant until October 5, just shy of two weeks prior to their planned reopening.

“If we are successful for that, [the funding] it would see us through until at least March...if we aren’t...we probably wouldn’t survive unless there’s further government help”.

Nightrain made the majority of its income from gigs, with the bar bolstering ticket sales, and Andrew worries, too, about the appeal of gigs under seated social distancing guidelines:

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“It’s not what we wanted to be delivering to customers...we want it to be safe but we don’t want an environment where everybody’s wearing hazmat suits”.

Ideally, he’d like to gain access to testing for himself and all staff as a “duty of care” both for them and the customers, yet testing remains unavailable to people without symptoms.

Testing is an issue Florencia is similarly frustrated with, pointing out that if she tested positive for coronavirus, “I would have to close the whole business for two weeks - how am I going to get support for that?”

The government, she feels, has pulled the rug from under hospitality businesses after months of encouraging them to get customers back in:

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“We were made to reopen and made to be busy, we were given all these incentives and now I feel that the safety net is ending”.

Though “absolutely following the rules”, Florencia - like many - believes them to be inconsistent, questioning why a group of more than six is not permitted to sit together in her cafe yet she could host “30 people dressed in tweed with guns” at her countryside home for grouse shooting.

The most recent limiting measure - a 10pm curfew for hospitality businesses - came as a blow to some, but Jack is optimistic that Hyde Park Book Club will find a way to adapt once again:

“It’ll be another hurdle to get over...10 to half 11 is a fairly condensed period of business and it obviously affects things like what events we can get going...but we’re pretty confident that if we make events a bit earlier, people will adapt their socialising”.

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While uncertainty has become the norm for millions around the world, it’s an especially tumultuous time for independent hospitality businesses, for whom, as Andrew points out, closure is more than a matter of just locking the front doors:

“This industry relies on months of planning...I’m reading that some restaurants and bars may have to close for two weeks...but without notice, we could end up staying closed much longer”.

All three are unanimous in agreeing that further support will likely be needed in the coming months if further job losses and permanent closures are to be avoided.

“In my ideal world”, says Jack, “the arts and culture would be looked after in the same way as health and transport”.

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Though he considers himself and his business “lucky” in their ability to adapt to the ever-changing crisis, he worries what the coming winter holds for hospitality businesses and “the country as a whole”:

“If it’s difficult for us - which it has been - I can’t imagine how a small city-centre cafe or a local pub are coping trying to get older customers back...those businesses are going to need a lot of support”.

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