Coronavirus: Casinos, theatres and bowling alleys welcome lockdown easing August 14, 2020 The UK’s leisure industry got a much-needed boost this morning after the government announced a further easing of lockdown measures. Theatres, music venues and casinos are among the sites that will be allowed to reopen from tomorrow as the final parts of the Covid-19 shutdown are lifted. Sports arenas, bowling alleys, skating rinks and soft [...]
Return of hospitality fails to drive retail footfall on opening weekend July 7, 2020 The reopening of pubs and restaurants at the weekend failed to spark a surge in retail footfall, according to the latest data. As pubs and restaurants reopened in England on so-called Super Saturday, footfall at shops increased 9.2 per cent compared to the previous week. However, this was the smallest week-on-week rise for any day [...]
Editorial: London cannot be kept under lock and key a moment longer than planned November 17, 2020 Over the past fortnight, since new national lockdown restrictions came into force, there has been something of a suspicion abroad in London and the south-east that our part of the country has been collateral damage as a result of increasing cases and deaths elsewhere in the country. To our untrained eye, new data released Tuesday [...]
Scrapping the VAT refund for tourists would be catastrophic for the UK economy October 30, 2020 Retail, hospitality and tourism are three of the sectors that have been hardest hit by Covid-19 and the ongoing lockdown restrictions. Employing close to six million people, job losses in these sectors are expected to be devastating. The government should be doing all it can to support these businesses at this critical time. Instead, it [...]
UK airports renew business rates relief calls as job losses loom July 13, 2020 The UK’s airports have renewed their calls for the government to scrap business rates as the near-complete collapse in passenger numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic continued. The Airport Operators Association (AOA) today appealed to ministers to give airports a year of business rates relief in line with those received by members of the hospitality, [...]
Hospitality sector calls for additional support for furloughed staff May 11, 2020 The UK’s hospitality sector has called for additional support for furloughed workers to ensure businesses survive the coronavirus lockdown. In a letter to chancellor Rishi Sunak, trade body UK Hospitality today urged the government to extend the existing coronavirus job retention scheme, which is currently set to run until the end of June, and increase [...]
The UK Government schemes for getting into work February 4, 2021 The UK, like all other countries, has been hit by a huge economic shock over the past year. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that, in order to protect people’s lives and ensure the NHS can continue to operate, the country has had to shut many businesses down for long periods of time. That can understandably [...]
Now’s not the time to worry about £500bn of borrowing, says IFS July 9, 2020 The UK’s budget deficit could balloon to £350bn this year and £150bn the next, but tax rises or spending cuts to tackle the public debt should not be implemented “any time soon,” the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said. However, IFS boss Paul Johnson warned that the chancellor was spending huge amounts and that [...]
Beer sales sink to 20-year low June 11, 2020 Beer sales in the UK slumped to their lowest levels for 20 years in the first quarter of 2020, as the lockdown continues to weigh on the hospitality industry. The figures Figures released today by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), the largest brewing and pub body in the UK, showed that beer sales [...]
Two years on from the law change, desperate families are still denied access to medical cannabis November 1, 2020 Severe epilepsy is a cruel condition, one that forces parents to endure the desperation of trying to help an innocent child whose life will only ever be far from normal. That’s why, after years of hard-fought and determined campaigning, a change in legislation exactly two years ago today brought relief to thousands of families across [...]