Owner of London restaurant Andy Jones slammed government for blaming the hospitality industry over coronavirus spikes
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Angry restaurateur clashed with Kate Garraway for ‘blaming’ the hospitality industry for coronavirus spikes as debate passed today on Good Morning Britain
London restaurant owner Andy Jones appeared on GMB alongside Dr Amir Khan and Professor Susan Michie to discuss the need for a national breaker
Speaking to hosts Kate and Ranvir Singh, Andy warned that restrictions such as the 10 p.m. curfew, level 2 restrictions and suggestions to close restaurants and bars were « wiping out » so many businesses and jobs
He also pointed out that there was no peak in July when bars, restaurants and pubs were allowed to reopen and the hospitality industry was « blamed all the time »
However, Kate intervened and said the peaks had been delayed by « two more weeks » and insisted the hospitality industry was not being criticized
Professor Michie, who is a member of SAGE, started the discussion by saying, « Well, the only way for us to get out of this pandemic is to have less contact with each other as humans because that viruses come from one person to another
« To do this, we will have to restrict the contact between us far beyond what we have done so far »
She appeared to suggest she was okay with the idea of a nationwide lockdown, saying: « What we’ve seen with the local restrictions is a lot of confusion »
However, Andy said: “Personally for my business I say trade – as a whole hotel industry, trade We went through every jump, every hoop, we did everything we got. demanded in the hospitality industry and we are constantly blamed
« And that’s right, ‘shut down restaurants, shut down bars’, the 10pm curfew has destroyed so many jobs, it has wiped out so much income from our hospitality establishments
« When is this going to end? When are we going to stop being blamed for everything that is going on? Now when we reopened on July 4th, I didn’t notice a spike in July! When customers were invited to Eat out to help «
Kate interrupted her, responding, « Andy, I know you want to stand up for your cause, but let me tell you what people are saying. First of all, it takes two weeks or more There is evidence – you are not blamed there is evidence
« The point is to reduce the places where people mix and unfortunately, and I feel so sorry for the hospitality industry because a lot of my friends work there, but the hospitality industry is operating in a situation where people need to mix «
Andy replied: « But the hospitality industry is also one of the UK’s biggest employers If you take London now – Level 2 Our sales are down this weekend by 35% compared to the previous weekend on exactly the same labor costs It’s not sustainable to run a business
« Now [my restaurant] Jones & Sons has other sources of income, we do other things so we should be okay. But if you’re just a restaurant and you have reduced revenues for the same costs, the same rent, and most landlords don’t give any breaks, how do you expect hospitality to survive?
Good Morning Britain, Kate Garraway, Ranvir Singh, Susanna Reid, Piers Morgan, ITV, Strictly Come Dancing, This Morning
World News – UK – Restaurant owner collides to Kate Garraway « blaming » the hospitality industry
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com