NEW Covid restrictions that come into force next week will be especially tough for the county’s hospitality sector, Cumbria Chamber of Commerce is warning.
The Government has announced that the whole of Cumbria will fall into the second tier or ‘high alert’ level once the national lockdown ends on Wednesday.
This means that:
- Shops, accommodation providers and close-contact services such as hairdressers can all open, as can indoor leisure venues such as gyms;
- Pubs and bars must close unless operating as restaurants;
- Hospitality venues can only serve alcohol with substantial meals and must close by 11pm;
- People from different households must not meet indoors (unless part of a support bubble) and a maximum of six people from different households can meet outdoors.
Chamber Chief Executive Rob Johnston said: “Much of Cumbria is coming out of lockdown with tougher restrictions than we had beforehand. Prior to lockdown, only Barrow and Carlisle were subject to tier-two rules.
“While that’s disappointing, in another sense we’ve escaped lightly because the whole of the North East, Lancashire and Greater Manchester are under even more onerous restrictions.
“We’re urging businesses to follow the new rules to the letter to ensure we don’t end up in tier three as well.”
The tiers are due to be reviewed on December 16.
Rob added: “It’s a relief that shops will be able to open in the run up to Christmas but the new rules are going to be very challenging for hospitality businesses.
“While restaurants can open, and pubs can if they serve meals, the ban on households meeting indoors will affect their trade.
“And while accommodation providers can open, many visitors to Cumbria come from areas such as Manchester – which are under tier-three restrictions – where people are being told not to travel to other parts of the country for day trips or holidays.
“It’s going to be a very difficult winter for our visitor economy.”
He advised people to check the Chamber’s Covid Toolkit, which has details of the new restrictions and links to apply for grants for businesses that are affected by the restrictions.
The toolkit is on the Chamber’s website at: https://www.cumbriachamber.co.uk/news/28573-restart-rebuild-and-renew
