Indoor Hospitality Sector Comes Back To Life As More Lockdown Restrictions Are Lifted - Real Business is the content brand that tells the truth about SME life today.
The hospitality industry jumped for joy today as it was announced that indoor venues are now allowed to welcome people back through their doors. Restaurants, pubs, and bars are no longer restricted to outside-only service and can now serve their patrons without curfews, though guests do need to remain seated when eating or drinking and establishments need to enforce table service only when ordering or paying. Through lockdown, the hospitality sector has been one of the hardest hit. Restaurants and pubs were forced to close, staff furloughed, and many owners left uncertain about the future of their business. Almost 10,000 licensed businesses closed in 2020 as the pandemic made it impossible to stay afloat. With government support in the form of the Recovery Loan Scheme and Local Restrictions Support Grants, the hospitality sector is set for a big revival.
NORTHUMBERLAND County Council has launched the second phase of its Business Resilience Grant (BRG) scheme. The BRG 2 grant scheme is aimed at companies that are liable for business rates, but have not already received Local Restrictions Support Grants, the Restart Grant or Additional Restrictions Grants. To enable more business types to be supported, the council also extended the Business Resilience Grant so that it can support some mobile and home-based businesses. Jan Willis, executive director of finance at Northumberland County Council, said: “The Business Resilience Grant has been extremely successful in supporting many enterprises which were not eligible for the main Local Restrictions Support Grants.
Wiltshire Council has responded to claims it is too slow at giving out Government funding to businesses in need of cash. Salisbury Chamber of Commerce says it has been contacted by a number of businesses in the city who are struggling to access Covid grants. This is because, compared to other councils elsewhere in the country, Wiltshire seems more reluctant to give money out, a spokesperson from the Chamber has said. The council admitted it has received a small number of complaints but says none have been upheld, which is evidence of a successful rollout . Too slow A spokesperson from Salisbury Chamber of Commerce said: Across the country there seems to be different criteria that different local authorities are using to interpret the Government rules and the consequence of that is that the ARG [Additional Restrictions Grant] payments are being declined or taking a long time to come through.
Restart grants now open for applications in Oldham Date published: 06 April 2021
One-off grants of up to £6,000 are available for non-essential retail businesses while hospitality, leisure, accommodation, personal care, gym and sport businesses could receive a one-off grant of up to £18,000
Businesses forced to close during the national lockdown can now apply for a Restart Grant to help them reopen safely as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
The new scheme is for non-essential retail and hospitality, leisure, accommodation, personal care, gym and sport businesses and is being administered via Oldham Council.
One-off grants of up to £6,000 are available for non-essential retail businesses while hospitality, leisure, accommodation, personal care, gym and sport businesses could receive a one-off grant of up to £18,000.