Covid: Why we really do need restaurants and pubs to survive this crisis – Stephen Jardine

It is not even December but already this is feeling like a really long winter in the hospitality sector.

The Rogano restaurant, the oldest in Glasgow, is boarded up temporarily as the city goes into a tier-four lockdown (Picture: John Devlin)

From those businesses fully shut to those limping along on limited hours, this is the toughest time anyone in the business has ever experienced. And the worst may be still to come.

If the first lockdown was bad, the current situation is even more challenging with constant change and uncertainty. Add to that this week’s news that extended Christmas family bubbles won’t be able to avoid the washing up and gather in hospitality settings and it’s not hard to see why Christmas cheer is in short supply.

For the most part, people are sympathetic to complaints from hospitality that they are just an easy target in a wild turkey shoot to try to bring Covid levels down. It’s far easier to shut down bars and restaurants than to scold the public about indoor mixing which is the real root of the problem.

Criticism tends to come from the usual suspects who bask in the safety of a guaranteed pay-cheque each month, regardless of what is happening in the cold Covid world outside the front door.

But that is misplaced arrogance. We need to follow Covid rules to protect the NHS but we also need to keep the economy moving because without income generation and tax receipts, there can be no NHS.

As we stagger through the largest fall in economic output for 300 years, there are good fiscal reasons for worrying about a sector that is worth £130 billion and employs nearly 10 per cent of the workforce.

This is about more than just money. Restaurants are part of the fabric of our lives. If you doubt that try ordering one of the myriad of available takeaway and home delivery options. Even if it originates from one of your favourite eating spots, it’s going to be a pale imitation of what they normally offer.

Regardless of how smart the packaging is, slopping food on a plate after it has been bounced around town on the back of a scooter is never going to be a substitute for a real restaurant experience.

Just think about it. We are trying to save lives at the moment and so much of the experience of living has an eating-out connection. Restaurants are where we go for the big occasions in life from birthdays to Valentines and anniversaries.

Of all the many things that are missing right now, sitting down in a restaurant where someone brings you bread, wine and a menu is high on the list for many people. Apart from feeding us delicious things we couldn’t make at home, they also supply interesting people for us to look at and clear up at the end of the evening.

Their absence or limited presence, depending on where you live, is all the more painful because it leaves the rest of us having to cook more than we have ever done in our lives.

For a while that was fun. Remember the Great Sourdough Summer of 2020 or the Banana Bread Bonanza? In the dark days of November, that seems a long time ago.

So get ready for restaurants when they properly reopen. They will need us but not nearly as much as we need them.

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