Pub landlords are hoping for a much-needed boost during Friday, 18 June’s England-Scotland match at Euro 2020, but hospitality chiefs have warned it will be far from enough to save some pandemic-hit businesses.
With Boris Johnson considering whether to delay the 21 June lockdown easing, pubs are doing their best to attract fans for what will be the biggest sporting fixture since the first lockdown last year.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, told i: “Major sporting occasions always offer the chance of bumper sales in pubs and bars and we all remember scenes of home nations’ fans cheering their respective teams on to memorable victories.
“However, we will only see a repeat if the respective UK Governments stick to their roadmaps and doesn’t push the sector into extra time and penalties.
“Social distancing measures and reduced capacity means they will be unable to fully capitalise on the tournament.”
She added: “Pubs and the whole hospitality sector is in a fragile state – a quarter of venues are still shut and those that are open are unable to turn a profit.
“Any delay will harm businesses that have experienced forced closure and severely disrupted trade over the past 15 months and will push many closer to the cliff edge of failure, meaning more job losses.
“Should the timings slip and restrictions remain, it’s vital that further financial support is forthcoming.”
Pubs across Scotland will be as busy as those south of the border and a fan zone on Glasgow Green is expected to attract 3,000 supporters under the close watch of police.
But with the Delta variant leading to a new surge in Covid-19 cases, both London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon are urging fans without tickets not to travel to Wembley for the 8pm kick-off.
After thundery showers on Wednesday, the weathers looks set to be fine and warm ahead of the match, the Met Office said.
Pub landlords who are hoping to welcome local fans include the Jonathan Haye from Jolly Gardeners in Vauxhall, London.
He said: “It’s been so hard. Hospitality has suffered so much.
“We’re waiting to find out about 21 June. It’s hard to plan because we don’t know if we need bartenders or waiting staff. We might have to keep table service and social distancing or we might flip everything on its head.
“It would be a dream to open fully but whatever happens we’ve got brilliant food and drink and can operate safely.
“We’ve got projectors inside – even in the restaurant area, where people can come in, eat, and then keep the table and stay for the game.
“We also have our outside space and there are no reservations. We’re a pub, we’re showing the football, so we just hope people come and enjoy themselves the best they can.”
Adam Brooks, owner of The Three Colts in Essex, said: “I’m really looking forward to having people in to watch the football – to have some semblance of normality.
“But we’ll take about 50 per cent than we would have done without restrictions. It won’t be a normal Euros.
“Normally it’d be shoulder to shoulder in every inch of the pub. We were looking forward to that after 21 June for the second half of the tournament, though that looks unlikely now.
“We’d planned to make more money later this month so it’s really tough.
“At least the football, a working person’s sport, will help distract us from our struggles.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3iC9UYK
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