“The industry is running on fumes and we need help to survive.”

A sentence taken from a hard-hitting letter to PM Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, from The Wonky Table.

The group represents more than 500 restaurants, pubs, clubs, bars and the events industry in the BCP, Dorset and Hampshire hospitality sector.

On January 4, in an address to the nation, the Prime Minister confirmed England is to go into a third national lockdown.

In the letter, Andy Lennox, Founder of The Wonky Table, urges ministers to support the hospitality industry as it enters the so-called ‘dark quarter’ of January to March.

The award-winning restaurateur, who owns Zim Braai and Nusara, pictured left, writes: “We now go into 2021 without the traditional Christmas season reserves yet with the increased debt and costs from the first and second lockdowns; not to mention the losses created by the tier system, ultimately culminating in the calamitous closure before New Year’s Eve.

“It needs to be understood by government the whole sector has been running below break-even since re-opening in July and the losses have only got greater with every tightening restriction since September.

“We have now gone from minus 30 per cent of normal revenues in October to minus 80 per cent from December in tier 2, not to mention November’s closure.

“The industry is running on fumes and we need help to survive.

“As we now enter the dark quarter the government must understand that the money spent over the last year will all be in vain if a further substantive financial package is not put in place immediately.

“The government must act now for our industry to survive the winter.

“Businesses have now had no trade up to Christmas and have had a disastrous Christmas.

“We are now in the historically quiet dark quarter of January to March in 2021 without the traditional reserves of November and December trade – not to mention the extra pressure we already have on our businesses carried over from the initial lockdown.

“We currently receive support of £487 every 14 days as all other support mechanisms do not help us when we are not trading. A support that doesn’t even cover the NI and pensions contributions we have to pay on furlough payments.”

The letter calls for a package of financial support including:

• Hospitality specific grant: “This must go much further than the current ‘up to £3k’ grant businesses are entitled to and be more robust in nature. We need a minimum of £7.5k per month grant backdated to November for the hospitality industry. This should have some kind of viability/cascade approach to help make sure money is going to the businesses who are not already ‘underwater’. With over £1.7bn now repaid to the taxpayer by supermarkets this money could be used to help fund part of this grant. A substantial grant is an absolute priority.”
• VAT to be kept at five per cent: “In these unprecedented times we believe this should be continued indefinitely. A vital part of the 2021/2022 recovery. This is an absolute lifeline for our industry.”
• Rate relief extended for another 12 months: “Our properties are empty and not trading so rates should not be paid, in any case we have been ordered to close.”
• New successor loan scheme: “We understand that there is some work going on in regard to BBL (Bounce Back Loan Scheme) and CBILS (Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme) and its new successor loan which was due in January. Any successor loan in the pipeline should be brought forward immediately to help cashflow through the next six months and help the industry plan for recovery. If a successor loan is not ready, then limits on BBL and CBILS should be increased.”
• Extension of BBL & CBIL: Extension of interest and loan repayments for CBILS and BBLs to cover the extra six months of lockdown.

The two-page letter has the support of the Leader and Deputy Leader of BCP Council; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Chambers; BH Area Hospitality Association (BAHA); Destination Management Board, UK Hospitality and five Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). Several local MPs are expected to support the letter in the coming days.

It concludes: “We hope that the government will consider these proposals as a collective and an essential extension of the lifeline which the hospitality industry needs to survive the current situation.

“As an industry we have borrowed to survive, we will borrow more to continue, if we can – but we do need further support.”

Commenting on the latest lockdown, Andy told Dorset Biz News: “Lockdown is needed to bring this pandemic to an end.

“We must have our children at school, we must return to normal, the economy must recover and the country must start to heal.

“Yet hospitality is at the heart of that recovery.

“We must be here to help it.

“But without further help our sector will be a shadow of how it was before the pandemic.”