As the restrictions in Greater Manchester tighten once again, pubs and bars across the city region have been ordered to close unless they serve a ‘substantial meal’.
In what’s been a endless stream of changes for hospitality businesses, many were faced with an ultimatum, start serving food or close.
The ‘substantial meal’ rule was seemingly up for interpretation with no steadfast description of what it actually meant.
It left venues and punters with lots of questions. What exactly is a substantial meal? How many drinks can I order with a meal? Can I order a drink while I wait for a table? And so on.
On top of this, with the restrictions announced on Tuesday and coming into force at midnight on Thursday, there was some lingering uncertainty around the level of support on offer for businesses if they do close.
Blackjack brewery who run the Smithfield Tavern on Great Ancoats Street have now closed their pub as they don’t have a viable kitchen space. The pub has been struggling since reopening due to the reduction in footfall in the city centre.
Over the last lockdown, the pub had a refurb, with a new roof and new booth seating, but they haven’t been able to welcome many of their regular customers back to see it.
That’s a wrap… for now!
We want to say a BIG thank you to our amazing staff who always ensured customers can drink as safely as possible and also to the customers who have supported us since the re-opening!We will be back!! See you soon 🍻 pic.twitter.com/HMMsNy8D9Z
— The Smithfield Tavern (@TheSmithfieldNQ) October 23, 2020
Rich from Blackjack said: “We look forward to the other side of this and being open at The Smithfield. We only had a short timeframe for people to come in and see the new place.
“The Smithfield has a very varied customer base with slightly older drinkers and people like that. Quite a few of them might not have actually been out yet, either being cautious or just not gone into the city centre. We’re quite looking forward to getting them back and people actually seeing the Smithfield as it is because, personally, I think it looks great.”
Fortunately for Blackjack, they also run Jack in the Box, beer bars located in Mackie Mayor and Altrincham Market, which are allowed to stay open thanks to the venues’ other food operators.
Like last time round, they are doing home deliveries of their beer in bottles, cans, as well as 5 and 10 litre bag in boxes. Beers can be ordered directly from the brewery’s website: blackjack-beers.com.
Petersgate Tap in Stockport is a small pub in a converted shop building in the centre of Stockport.
Owner Alan has closed the pub for now as they don’t have a kitchen set up. They are still considering the possibility of starting to serve food but have decided, with the confusion around what makes a ‘substantial meal’ and how long someone can stay to drink while eating, that it’s more trouble than it’s worth.
Alan said: “It’s not a level playing field is it? Because the last time we were in total lockdown. I would welcome a second lockdown to be honest. I think a lockdown is best, you know, to trigger a break in the spread if you like. This sort of tiered approach to us is more like sticking plaster type solution.
“We are a Tier 3 pub, that doesn’t serve food, we’re effectively in lockdown but that doesn’t apply to everybody.”
We’re back open today for takeaways & home delivery for the foreseeable.
Our hours will be as follows
Wed-Fri 2-6
Sat 12-3
Closed all other times but we will home deliver any day but Sunday if required. Thanks for all your messages of support.— Petersgate Tap (@petersgate_tap) October 23, 2020
During the previous lockdown, Alan converted the top floor of the pub, which was formerly used as a function room, into storage so they could sell takeaway beers. Now they have had to close again, they will once again be operating as a bottle shop, taking orders in store and online.
Alan said: “So now, we’re able to swing right into that straight away. That investment by us we’re hoping will now pay off in terms of the fact that we’ve already got stock, people can walk in and buy beers off the shelves. You know, the takings are going to be way down but, with any luck, with the support that was announced, it will keep us afloat.”
Beers can be bought to takeaway at The Petersgate Tap in Stockport town centre or via their website: petersgatetap.com/shop.
As ever, in the absence of clear information and insufficient support for businesses on a national level, Greater Manchester’s hospitality community has pulled together to support each other, with many food operators and restaurants rallying around those pubs and bars who want to stay open.
One such operator is, street food event, GRUB who put out a call to pubs and bars that don’t currently have a substantial food offering to see if they can pair them up with their network of street food traders.
Any businesses out there that don’t currently have a substantial food offering but would like one so they can carry on operating from Friday please email us at jules@grubmcr.com and we’ll do everything we can to source you a street food trader.
Plz RT. #FuckBorisJohnson
— GRUB (@GRUBMCR) October 20, 2020
Since then, GRUB have been inundated with requests from pubs and bars looking to source a food trader for their venue.
Owner of GRUB, Jules, said: “It just seemed like an obvious thing. We know loads of traders and they don’t need much to pop up. You know, our traders, essentially their set up is designed to be brought somewhere, pop up a gazebo – some of them they don’t even have to have a gazebo – they pop up and just start serving food, so it just seemed obvious that if there are places that need food then we know all the people that can do that.”
“You worry about your own city as well don’t you? We’re so worried about our hospitality community. It’s beneficial for us all if Manchester has a thriving food and drink community. We want as many people to come out of the other side as possible.”
Based at Red Bank Project in the Green Quarter, GRUB have had to make some difficult decisions themselves when it comes to staying open.
Jules said: “At the moment, like everyone, we’re just trying to scrape by and keep going, keep going, keep everyone in our team in jobs, and that’s the most important thing for us.
“Also for our traders, you know, all our traders are self employed, some of them have had no support whatsoever because they weren’t registered in time last year to get the support. So, some of them have literally just had to get by on what they’ve managed to do with delivery services and things.
“Even talking about it is making me a bit emotional. Some of these traders have already had massive losses because their bread and butter is doing the summer festivals but obviously none of those have happened so that’s what normally gets them through the winter.
“So not having had that it’s quite a bleak situation for a lot of street food traders, which is also why we hope that with some of these pubs it can be a really good partnership working together.”
One pub that has been partnering up with a food business for some time is Piccadilly Tap, which has announced it is staying open.
Located on Station Approach, the bar is known primarily as a place to get a great pint before hopping on a train but it also serves pizza, provided by neighbouring Italian restaurant Bravissimi!. Now, of course, ordering a pizza will be compulsory for those who want to get a pint at the bar, rather than an optional extra.
Amy from Piccadilly Tap says that with each round of announcements, it’s gets more challenging, and that the recent restrictions seem to have put many people off coming into town altogether, with the city centre much quieter than normal.
However, she questions the whether the new ‘substantial meal’ rule would really make any difference in terms of transmissions.
She said: “It’s such a secure, safe environment and with only 3% [of transmissions] coming from hospitality, those figures are really low. And it’s our job to keep everyone safe and fed and watered. It’s a shame that it’s gotten so quiet, I think people are trying to follow the government rules but, as I say, it hits us quite hard I think.
“It just seems a bit disappointing, it’s a bit relentless, it’s one thing after another, but we’re just going to try our best and give this pizza thing a good shot. Fingers crossed.”
Despite the challenges, some pubs and bars are fighting to stay open by introducing new menus or working with traders to start serving food.
The Crooked Man in Prestwich opened again over the weekend with a pop up by sandwich delivery service, SANSAN.
There’s also Sammy’s Cocktail Bar in the Northern Quarter which will now serve bagels filled with salt beef, pastrami and smoked salmon and cream cheese.
And, G-A-Y on Canal Street serving their ‘Not The Ivy, But Substantial’ menu, including burger and chips, pizza and chips, and jacket potatoes for only £2 per dish.
The G-A-Y food menu is basically my diet 1998-2002. pic.twitter.com/hppxg9Gz3X
— Darren Bell (@darren_bell) October 21, 2020
Popular Northern Quarter takeaway Cafe Marhaba has offered up its services to pubs and bars to help them stay open.
Their post on Instagram read: “We think we may be able to provide a pop up service or meal kits which you can put together to provide your customers with a substantial meal.”
Street food traders who have developed a delivery box offering during lockdown, such as Northern Soul Grilled Cheese and Yaoyao Noodles, have suggested to pubs to use these as a way of staying open.
It really does feel like everyone is coming together to support each other.
SERIOUS QUESTION ?
We’re pretty sure we have a full pub style Northern Soul Grilled Cheese opportunity coming available.
Kit, product, minimal labour with a great option for SUBSTANTIAL customer offering.
WHO’D BE INTERESTED ? DM us if you are. #mcr #pubs #bars #COVID19 👊 pic.twitter.com/LlAa6o8lLO
— NORTHERN SOUL GRILLED CHEESE 🧀 (@NorthernSoulMcr) October 23, 2020
A small glimmer of hope is the new support packages for Tier 2 regions which will be backdated for Greater Manchester businesses who have operated under more strict restrictions since the beginning of August.
There will also be financial support available for venues which close as a result of the restrictions, although it looks like this will be much less than first time around, with only 67% paid to furloughed staff instead of 80% for starters.
Despite this funding, there’s still a total lack of consistency and security for hospitality businesses who have jumped through hoops for months to stay afloat.
With a minimum of 28 days for the current restrictions to be in place, it’s unclear as to when we will move out of Tier 3 or if we will plunge further into tighter restrictions with another national lockdown.
Whether venues have pushed to remain open or accepted the fact that they have to close, it’s going to be yet another few challenging few months for hospitality businesses in Greater Manchester.
As many of the venues of told us, the real issue is that, especially in the city centre, it’s really bloody quiet at the moment. So even if the businesses can stay open, there’s a question as to whether it will be viable for them.
So, as ever, we urge you to carry on supporting these independent businesses in whatever way you can; whether that’s heading out for a meal or ordering some beers to stay at home. We’re all in this together.
Do you own a pub or bar which has started serving food in order to stay open? Or are you a food and drink trader looking to offer their services? Get in touch to let us know – maya@eatmcr.com.
