{"id":4911,"date":"2021-12-22T15:24:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T15:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/?p=4911"},"modified":"2021-12-22T16:54:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T16:54:54","slug":"living-on-a-thin-line-manchester-hospitality-once-again-on-the-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/culture\/living-on-a-thin-line-manchester-hospitality-once-again-on-the-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"Living on a Thin Line: Manchester Hospitality Once Again on the Brink"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“All the wars that were won and lost, <\/em><\/p>

Somehow don’t seem to matter very much anymore. “<\/em><\/p>‘Living on a Thin Line’ – The Kinks<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He may have penned it 36 years ago, but Dave Davies’ words on the above 1985 classic feel more pertinent than ever as the British hospitality industry prepares to enter the bleakest of mid-winters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken from The Kinks’ 1985 ‘Word of Mouth’ album, ‘Living on a Thin Line’ not only laments a lost identity and yearning for ‘days of old’, but also directs an industrial amount of vitriol and disdain towards British politicians which, it’s safe to say, is a set of emotions we can all share wholeheartedly right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since March 2020, restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes across Manchester have been mercilessly sieged not only by Covid-19, but also their own government, who’s overwhelming incompetence and blatant treachery has betrayed every single person working in hospitality, costing countless people their livelihoods, as well as an exhausting barrage of mental health issues that present us with another crisis on top of what is already currently being endured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those on the frontline for the last 20 months have been battered and bruised by the total lack of support from Downing Street, who have consistently lurched from one indecision to another, doing everything they can to withhold adequate resources from thousands of desperate business owners and their staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With every small victory, like last summer’s reopenings and ‘Freedom Day’ this past July, there was always that glimmer of hope that a corner MIGHT had been turned. That a rampant vaccination programme would allow a more permanent return to full, restriction free trading and, should any measures need to be reintroduced, that they would be done so responsibly with lessons learned from previous debacles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s productivity levels only seem to spike when there’s a Cobra meeting that needs avoiding, an illegal, lockdown breaking party or cheese and wine laden ‘work meeting’ that needs attending or, of course, if foreign healthcare bosses register an interest in buying parts of the NHS. If you’re a restaurant or bar owner unsure as to whether you can open tomorrow or, more likely, you’re relying on social media leaks to be drip fed the government’s impending, weeks too late plans, then chances are your plight is not appearing near the top of any agendas being seriously discussed inside number 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which leaves Manchester’s hospitality scene in a current state of despair and near disrepair. Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that \u00a31bn of funding is being granted to British hospitality venues affected by Omicron. It is hardly news that inspires longterm confidence, mainly because the figures announced (a maximum of \u00a36,000 per venue) won’t even come close to covering the cost of the damage that has already been done and is still yet to be done. As Manchester’s Night Time Economy Adviser Sacha Lord tweeted shortly after the announcement, “This isn’t a package. It’s an insult.”<\/em> This path has been miserably trodden several times before. Hospitality can only take so many hits before venues retreat to the trenches forever, unable to withstand constant assaults from new variants and despicable, morally bankrupt millionaires with more power than brain cells or integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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6k will not even touch the sides for businesses.

Unless the Chancellor comes back with a serious package, it\u2019s the final nail for many small businesses.

It feels very much to me, like the Gov\u2019t are only interested in saving the big corporates.

Completely the wrong approach. pic.twitter.com\/iOhP2KMky2<\/a><\/p>— Sacha Lord (@Sacha_Lord) December 21, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>