The British High Streets haven’t been an inspiring place to visit for a very long time, and you couldn’t probably distinguish a high street in the North of England from one in the South: The same store and coffee shop chains everywhere with very little individual and local trades left. And then the pandemic hit.
TM Lewin, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams to name but a few have in recent weeks and months announced store closures and redundancies. And the restaurant chains aren’t faring any better: Pizza Express, Byron Burger as well as the owners of Ask Italian and Zizzi are closing restaurants and making staff redundant. With many of these chains being prominent on high streets up and down the UK, this will leave many shutters down and premises boarded up – not a sight enticing the general public to venture out.
Not that they would have anyway: Over the past few months it has become abundantly clear that many (or most) items can be bought online, and we all have indulged in probably too many takeaways. In this respect the Eat Out to Help Out initiative by the government is fantastic news – and the figures so far published show that the scheme is a roaring success. Shame that it lasted until the end of August only: Considering the state of the hospitality sector, and in particular all the individually operated eateries and pubs, this needs to be extended, be it only to give some hope to these independent operators, many of which will otherwise no doubt have to close and make their staff redundant once the furlough scheme expires at the end of October.
The grumpy older man 