Devastated business owners are up in arms over the extension of Matt Hancock‘s Tier 3 curbs across vast swathes of southern England amid rising coronavirus cases.
Around four million people are being moved into the toughest restrictions from Friday, with local restaurateurs, hoteliers and theatre owners forced to either remain closed or shutter their premises over the Christmas period.
Thousands of planned family festive trips to Legoland in Berkshire, as well as Center Parcs in Sherwood, have now been thrown into jeopardy as cancellations loom on the horizon.
Warner Bros Studio Tour in Watford has already closed in anticipation of the move to Tier restrictions and is extending its refund period to cover all visits from December 16 to January 3 inclusive.
Meanwhile people will still be able to visit LaplandUK in Ascot as ‘Santa’s grottos are able to open in all tiers’.
MPs and councillors blasted the Health Secretary’s ‘bizarre’ and ‘ridiculous’ clampdown, while hospitality chiefs warned Tier 3 restrictions will plunge businesses already on the brink into ‘despair and heartbreak’.
Large parts of the east and south of England will go into Tier 3, including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire.
It means around 38 million people, or 68 per cent of the population, will now be subject to the top bracket – including the Queen at Windsor Castle.
A high-end steak restaurant in Berkshire is having to cancel all 80 bookings from now over Christmas until January 1 at an estimated cost of £12,000.
The Herd restaurant in Pangbourne, which is part of the Elephant hotel, opened on December 3 in line with Tier 2 restrictions after it closed its doors during the second national shutdown – at a cost of thousands of pounds in anti-Covid kit.
It now has to close its doors indefinitely, destroy festive family plans by cancelling restaurant and hotel reservations, kick guests out of the hotel from Friday, and put all its 25 restaurant staff back on furlough.
General manager Chris Lowe told MailOnline the move to Tier 3 is costing the restaurant an estimated £12,000 and the hotel around £5,000.
He called locking down ‘a nightmare’, adding: ‘I know that the Government are probably trying to do the right thing, but closing everything again during the Christmas holiday is going to be disastrous.
‘We’ve had to basically ruin Christmas plans for families travelling into the area to visit their friends and families. Many of them now have nowhere else to stay, so their holidays are all up in the air because of this.
‘Locking down is a nightmare, local businesses – restaurants, pubs, hairdressers, corner shops – they’re all losing money, and lots of it.’
Pub landlord David Cairns said he’s had to cancel bookings to the Tap in Portsmouth on Christmas Day, calling it ‘a bit s***’. Speaking to MailOnline, he fumed: ‘If you have to save lives you have to save lives, but I’m gutted.
‘It’s going to have a massive effect on my business. The week from Christmas to New Year is a crucial period for us and brings a lot of revenue.’
Steve Banfield, who runs The Brown Bear pub in Hertfordshire, said he is ‘resigned’ to the sudden move to Tier 3, telling MailOnline: ‘It’s hard not to think sometimes that they’re trying to decimate the pub industry.
‘I really feel frustrated for the locals who like to come down to the pub at the end of the week, have a pint and chew the fat with their friends.
‘We’ve had a few cases down here, and it’s probably because when people have alcohol they don’t follow social distancing. But what fun’s a pub if you can’t relax with your mates and suspend reality for a moment?’
An incensed pub landlord in Peterborough said that Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions ‘effectively cease all trade’ as he believes that people will not order takeaway pints from his venue over the Christmas holiday.
Andrew Ruddy of the Ruddy Duck Peakirk said that constantly reopening and closing this year is a ‘huge waste of money’, and admitted that his biggest worry was rent.
‘I think hospitality is being blamed for the spread despite the fact there’s no evidence that it spreads in pubs,’ he told MailOnline.
‘In a way, going into Tier 3 is a relief for us because trying to operate in Tier 2 was just not viable. We don’t benefit from grants in the same way, and we chalked out thousands of pounds to make the place safe.
‘It’s all been a huge waste of money, and now we have literally no income coming in – we’re having to use grants to cover our bills and our rent.’
Pub landlady Lili Collier at the Broad Street Tavern in Wokingham said that hospitality venues across England are ‘being punished for being open’
The Herd restaurant in Pangbourne is having to cancel all 80 bookings from now over Christmas until January 1 at an estimated cost of £12,000
The Kings Theatre in Portsmouth announced that it was postponing all performances of its Dick Whittington pantomime from Friday into the New Year. Above, cast members perform Jack and the Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal on December 2 in York
David Cairns, 35, landlord of The Tap in Portsmouth, told MailOnline: ‘I’ve got a lot of people booked for Christmas Day and now I’ve got to tell them they can’t come – and that’s a bit s***’
Tearful and devastated small business owners are up in arms over the extension of Matt Hancock’s draconian Tier 3 curbs across vast swathes of southern England
Large parts of southern England will go into Tier 3, including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire
Pub landlady Lili Collier at the Broad Street Tavern in Wokingham said that hospitality venues across England are ‘being punished for being open’.
She told MailOnline the pub, which reopened on July 30 to ensure it was fully Covid-compliant and closed for the second national shutdown, paid close to £10,000 for an outdoor marquee – only to be forced to close a third time.
The landlady of seven years said: ‘It would be nice if we had a bit of notice. We spend all this money on food and drinks and we have to throw it away, it’s such a waste – especially as there are people going down to their food banks just to find something for that night.
‘We want to know what the right thing is to do here. We haven’t ever complained, we have followed all the rules, all the Government’s requirements, and now we are being punished for being open. We don’t understand if the Christmas bubbles apply anymore, it’s all a mess.’
Simon Dennis, who works at a family-owned restaurant in Luton, revealed that his manager rang him in floods of tears with frustration at the move to Tier 3.
‘Just had my restaurant manager on the phone in tears. Open, close, open, close. Make your minds up,’ he tweeted.
‘No business can operate like this. And £2,000 for being closed in November! Didn’t even cover half my rent. Going to be nothing left for 2021. Do more’.
A mother in Peterborough who models for Buzz Talent agency said she is ‘absolutely devastated’ by the move. ‘Peterborough is moving into Tier 3 meaning I have to close my business again and I’ve had no financial support at all,’ she tweeted.
‘We only opened in September and we’ve spent most of the time closed’.
The owner of a mobile bar called Webster’s Bar Box in the south east of England said she is ‘gutted, heartbroken and had enough now’.
‘Tier 3 means my little pub business has to close again tomorrow,’ she tweeted, adding: ‘I’m in tears, completely drained.’
The Kings Theatre in Portsmouth announced that it was postponing all performances of its Dick Whittington pantomime from Friday into the New Year.
‘Sadly, Friday 18 December at 7pm will be our final performance until Portsmouth comes back out of Tier 3,’ a statement said.
‘We’re so proud of what we have achieved staging our first Pompey Panto and are devastated that the show must be closed over Christmas while we’re in Tier 3.’
The luxury four-star Gibbon Bridge Hotel in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, announced that it would have to remain closed as the region is not being brought out of the Tier 3 restrictions.
It added that it is ‘disappointed’ that it is not be able to ‘honour’ Christmas reservations, tweeting: ‘Our region is remaining in Tier 3.
‘While this is entirely out of our hands we can’t tell you how disappointed and sorry we are not to be able to honour your Christmas reservations or be part of making the festive season a bit more special for you. Take care and see you soon.’
Polly Little, a manager at the Red Lion in Luton town centre said this evening: ‘A lot of people aren’t happy as you’d expect. We are going to lose a lot of Christmas trade.
We were due to do 43 covers here on Christmas Day for people who wanted come out and enjoy their Christmas Dinner here. Now we have got to cancel the day and get all the refunds back to them.
‘It’s so disappointing because we are doing all the right things like spacing people apart and making sure people wear face masks and yet you go into the Mall and the shops and it’s like a free for all.
‘I feel so sorry for our regulars too. They can’t just come in for a pint anymore. They’ve had to order a meal. But now they can’t come in at all and that means the social side has been taken from them.’
Cherrie Bennett landlady at The Castle pub the town centre said: ‘The week running up to Christmas would have been a busy week for us which is lost now. But we have missed out since November.
‘It’s rubbish really they way the hospitality sector had been closed-what about the shops.’ She said staff at the pub now face an uncertain future.
‘This is a night time pub so the curfew has hit us anyway, but I feel sorry for the young people that come here in the evenings. These are the university students and we provide a way for them to socialise instead of being stuck in rooms.’
She said working with MIND her pub is helping students with mental health issues by listening to them and giving them the chance to talk and socialise.
‘Youngsters need the release the pubs provide of having somewhere to socialise, to talk,’ she said.
Bilal Ahmad is the manager and a director of the popular The Italian Gelato and Dessert Co, an ice cream parlour in the centre of town
After tomorrow he will be closing his business to the public. ‘We are going to lose a lot of money. People like to go shopping as a family and then come here afterwards and enjoy the ice cream.
‘Now that’s all been stopped and in the run up to Christmas. Christmas is a busy time here, but now it’s not going to be. We can do a delivery service but it’s not ideal because ice cream melts and packaging ends up soggy. We can do online orders but we get charged 30 per cent by the online companies.
‘It’s so disappointing because we have followed the social distancing rules..’
Collette Bird, 23, who works for McDonalds and her friend, care worker Shannon Smith, 23, said the closure of the hospitality sector meaning pubs and clubs will close, will have an affect on the town
Collette said: ‘You just wish things could go back to normal, but I don’t think they ever will. I think what is happening is all about controlling the people, making them wear face masks, stand in queues, stand in lines. It will never go back to normal.
Muhammad Noor who runs Juliet’s Hair and Cosmetics in the town centre said he will have to close his business on Friday evening and he will be laying staff off as a result.
He said he had followed all the advice about social distancing and keeping staff and customers safe, given to him by the council who have visited his shop.
‘I will have to close and yet stores like Wilkos around the corner can stay open.
Bethan Fraser said ‘It’s not the closing down of the hospitality business that affect ps me and my family because we don’t go out to the pubs. It’s not being able to see friends and families that is the hard part. This time of year it’s especially hard and people’s mental health can suffer.’
UKHospitality warned that placing more areas into Tier 3 will ‘ruin Christmas for those businesses entering and continued despair and heartbreak for those hard-pressed businesses that had hoped they might move into Tier 2′.
Its chief executive Kate Nicholls told MailOnline ‘what was already looking like a bleak Christmas is now looking like a total write-off’.
Tearful and devastated small business owners are up in arms over the extension of Matt Hancock’s draconian Tier 3 curbs across vast swathes of southern England
‘Businesses will have bought stock which will now go to waste and more people will lose work at a stressful time,’ she claimed.
‘Hotels are now facing a deluge of short-notice cancellations because of the tightening of restrictions. What was already looking like a bleak Christmas is now looking like a total write-off.
‘This will be a bitter blow for businesses that would have been hoping to make the best of a difficult Christmas period.
‘The increased restrictions, effectively a total shutdown for most, will make it even more difficult for businesses to salvage what little they can from what should be a busy period.
‘More financial support most be forthcoming if we are to have any hope that these businesses will survive. They can trade their way out of danger next year only if they are still around to do so.’
The Campaign for Pubs warned of ‘a widespread fear and anger shared by publicans who now find themselves in uncharted territory’.
Its spokesman Alastair Kerr told MailOnline that ‘for the many publicans who were in Tier 2, who now find themselves in Tier 3, it is devastating news – especially a week before Christmas, whch should be a busy trading time’.
‘It is clear that the hospitality sector cannot keep on opening up only to be told to close down again with none or very little economic support from the Government,’ he added.
The British Beer & Pub Association said that ‘permanent closures, lost livelihoods and the destruction of valued community locals is sadly inevitable’ with the move to Tier 3.
Chief executive Emma McClarkin said: ‘The update on tier restrictions announced today is not the shift in the right direction that our sector desperately needed and hoped for.
‘More regions being placed under Tier 3 restrictions means more closed businesses, leaving the future of Britain’s pubs truly hanging by a thread this Christmas.
‘It is clear that it is going to be longer than we thought until our pubs can open properly and be viable businesses again.
‘The UK Government can and should follow the lead of Wales, which is providing pubs facing similar restrictions and closure with four times more financial support than those in England. Some pubs in Wales will receive even more than that.
‘The Prime Minister and Chancellor have no excuses. They must now secure pubs and jobs by giving locals in England the same support as those in Wales. Without such support, a wave of pub closures is guaranteed at a time when they should be leading the economic recovery.’
It means around 38 million people, or 68 per cent of the population, will now be subject to the top bracket – including the Queen at Windsor Castle
Covid-19 deaths have also risen 14 per cent week-on-week, with 612 new victims reported today compared to 533 a week ago. It is the second day in a row that daily infections rose by more than 50 per cent after 18,450 positive tests were announced on Tuesday
Tory MP for Stevenage Stephen McPartland said that it is ‘ridiculous that we are being dragged into Tier 3’.
He tweeted that the move is ‘totally unacceptable’ and ‘clearly shows I was right to vote against a second lockdown and tier system’.
‘Government accepted on Monday that tiers should be imposed on a district basis instead of this unbalanced county-wide approach,’ he added.
Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth City Council, said the decision to put the Hampshire city into Tier 3 was ‘bizarre’ when other authorities that required care provided by the city’s Queen Alexandra Hospital had not been moved up.
He said other local authorities such as Fareham and Winchester City were within a mile-and-a-half of the hospital.
‘It’s not unexpected but I am slightly surprised as we have been told the problem is the Queen Alexandra Hospital, which doesn’t just serve Portsmouth, just a third of its intake is from Portsmouth and two-thirds from others around including areas which are within a mile,’ he said.
‘The Government’s ability to get things right seems to be not great but the Government has made a number of bizarre decisions, so it’s no surprise they have made another one.’
The leader of Surrey County Council has said residents and businesses will find most of the county moving into Tier 3 ‘very disappointing news’ at the end of an ‘exceptionally difficult year’. The area of Waverley will remain in Tier 2.
Tim Oliver said: ‘We need to take swift action to save lives and stop our crucial NHS services from being put under even more pressure.
‘We all need to be extremely vigilant, including residents in Waverley, as the situation can change quickly and we want to prevent them going into Tier 3 in the new year.’
He urged people to follow the bubbles guidance over Christmas and added: ‘There is hope on the horizon with the rollout of the vaccine across the county, starting with the over-80s.
‘But it will take time and we cannot let our guard down. The coming weeks will be a challenge to us all, but it is crucial that we reduce the spread of this virus and get through the winter as safely as possible.’
Cllr Peter Marland of Milton Keynes Council claimed the local authority had no prior notification of moving into Tier 3.
‘We were missed off the statement in Parliament. Utter shambles,’ he tweeted. ‘For clarity on Covid-19 matters we are in NHS England East and grouped with Bedfordshire (we think)’.
Will you have to close your business when you move from Tier 2 to Tier 3? Tell us about your experience by emailing – jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk
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