A Million Jobs At Risk: Why Hospitality Should Be Allowed To Reopen Alongside Retail

Anyone recall what they were doing on Friday March 20? Chances are you probably can because that was the last night that in the U.K. we could go out to a bar, pub or restaurant before they were all closed down.

It seems like a lifetime ago. Almost a strange parallel universe where human contact (remember that?) and interactions were allowed before we were all put into quarantine. And now, nearly three months on, there are signs that we might, finally, be allowed to once again enjoy the simple pleasures in life, the things that make us feel human.

So called non-essential retail will be allowed to reopen from Monday June 15 but as yet, the hospitality sector will not be allowed to follow suit until July 4 at the earliest. And that’s because the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has unwittingly created a disparity between two closely related and connected sectors.

It’s a bit like Starsky without Hutch or a Big Mac without beef. It just doesn’t work. And the human tragedy of delaying the reopening won’t be judged by the R rate, it will be by the estimated one million hospitality workers who stand to lose their jobs if the sector isn’t allowed to reopen soon.

The very act of shopping is a social one and combines many things, browsing, window shopping, trying on, purchasing….and meeting for a coffee or a meal. It’s all part of the experience.

I spoke to Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, the trade body for the hospitality sector. And at the heart of successfully reopening the hospitality sector lies the debate as to whether two meter distancing is necessary.

It’s something which the U.K. is largely alone in mandating, and something with which the World Health Organisation (WHO) disagrees, saying one meter is safe.

According to UK Hospitality, if the two meter rule stays, revenue in the likes of pubs, bars and restaurants will be 30% of normal levels, in other words, unsustainable. If however it was reduced to one meter, revenue would be at 70% of normal levels, in other words at break even. Who would ever have thought that a meter could have such a dramatic effect?

More than just the two meter rule

To open up all retail ahead of hospitality of course makes no sense as the two work hand in hand. Going out to shop, often involving both of them. And according to Nicholls, opening up hospitality will help social distancing as it will provide more space for people.

According to her there is an “appetite to go back out but with a degree of caution”, adding that, “41% say they want to go out but will stay local”.

And in that same research carried out by UK Hospitality, it found that just 20% were seeking a return to the “big night out” that they perhaps used to have on a Friday or Saturday night.

Nicholls believes that the challenge will be how to create that same sense of experience. “We won’t see very intrusive change. There will be a move away from spontaneity with things such as pre-booking for many more activities”.

Hope springs eternal

The future of the high street had been a topic of debate for years prior to the pandemic, however, a lack of alignment between all the stakeholders prevented any real progress from being made. But this might be about to change.

Because the virus is creating a context within which change is no longer an option, it is an imperative, and has to happen at pace. She believes that it will, “act as a catalyst to allow local authorities to have the freedom and permission to innovate and experiment”. One thing with which they are not normally associated.

But all that is predicated on one thing. Something which now appears to be the fulcrum upon which hospitality and to an extent, retail, will either survive or crumble. Who would have thought that one meter could be quite so influential?