Are you ready to order?
Open space along King’s Parade and other locations will be used to help kick start extra outdoor trading…
To risk sounding like Boris, I really do think I can hear the firing up of our country’s engines, the sunshine has begun to at last thaw England’s great pistons and the wheels are slowly beginning to turn as our Herculean battle against the terrible beast of…. Well, you get the idea. Basically, this summer is party time isn’t it? It has to be. And no one is more ready to go than those who work in hospitality and its many, MANY hungry patrons.
With £125bn in extra savings stuffed into our pockets, as a customer, I think I speak for all of us when I say, I’m ready to order. But where are we going to go? Venues are battered and certainly bruised but today’s announced £5bn fund in the form of grants to help the high street recover is a welcome, if small, step forward.
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We anticipate an extension to the Business Rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure, and like all those in the industry we are desperately hopeful that the VAT reduction will be extended past April, too. This alone will make an enormous difference to our beloved venues & independent businesses in Cambridge & beyond.
— Katie Underwood
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While there are still a great many challenges ahead, hospitality businesses have proven to be absolutely up to the task, but further support is vital.
‘Obviously we would like to be open today!’ says John Hoskins, owner of The Old Bridge in Huntingdon. But we have to go with what we are given and, if the scientists’ advice is 12th April for outdoor opening and then 17th May for indoor service, we are not going to argue. But I do fear the government thinks we will all be fine if we can just be allowed to open with no further setbacks. They may not realise how much support hospitality businesses need to survive now that they are saddled with debt.’
In Cambridge at least, we know the local council are committed to supporting hospitality, with creative use of outdoor public spaces and extra funding also planned. Lewis Herbert, Leader of Cambridge City Council explains:
‘The recovery of our hospitality businesses is a vital part of our city’s recovery. Hundreds of jobs are at stake.
‘We’ve met with the Cambridge city centre Business Improvement District chief executive to look at specific extra locations available as additional public space for businesses to open during the coming summer.
Open space along King’s Parade and other locations in our compact city centre will be used to make the most of just over £700,000 in funding to help kick start extra outdoor trading in appropriate locations.’
And adapting the setting to the circumstances is something venues have been doing for 12 months. Alex Crepy is the owner of Amelie in Cambridge and says:
‘Having been closed for such a long time, the challenge is gearing back up to opening, welcoming back old customers and attracting new ones.
‘We had to think outside the box during lockdown and now we’re ensuring all the safety measures and procedures will be up to date and any new requirements are put in place. We have kept all our staff and we may well also be hiring.’
And that echoes another delicate shred of good news which is that over the next few months hospitality could see an industry-wide surge in recruitment with a reported 59 percent of recruiters looking to hire into new positions.
We can’t quite see the future, not yet. But now at least there’s an opening date. And everyone is absolutely rooting for each other from the top down. Are we going to make it? There’s a lot to be said for trusting your gut and I’m pretty hungry, aren’t you?
