South-west hospitality businesses back campaigns for industry’s survival

A group of more than 200 restaurants, bars, clubs, pubs and event management businesses in the south-west have thrown their backing behind campaigns such as National Time Out and Raise the Bar

The group of businesses across Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and Wimbourne, calling itself the Wonky Table, has signed a letter to government, penned by founder Andy Lennox (pictured), founder of Koh Thai Tapas and Zim Braai restaurants.

The letter said: “We hope that in some way [Wonky Table] will continue to add weight to existing calls for government action, whilst also adding some further steps the industry must see actioned from the government and national bodies in order for our industry to survive.”

The letter calls for an extension of the furlough scheme for hospitality, reduction of VAT, legislation to be introduced to ensure businesses that have the relevant insurance policies against pandemics can claim, and the creation of a Covid-19 hospitality fund, allowing local councils to administer any unclaimed grant money to help hospitality businesses.

It also throws its support behind the National Time Out campaign, calling for nine months rent-free for hospitality businesses, and Raise the Bar, which seeks to increase the threshold for the government's £25,000 grant for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses from £51,000 to £150,000

Lennox added: “We hope that the government will consider these proposals as a collective and an essential completion of the lifeline which the hospitality Industry needs to survive the current situation.”

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