According to a poll of 358 board level members of pubs, restaurants and food to go operations, 35% say their business will go under if the curfew was to continue for six months, as some fear.
A third of hospitality operators have also reported that over a third of their bookings have been wiped out by the 10pm curfew, according to the latest Hospitality Leaders Poll conducted by Lumina Intelligence for BigHospitality, MCA and The MA.
Some 13% say that over 40% of their bookings have been hit and 18% say between 30% and 40% have been cancelled.
Another third (29%) say between 10% and 20% of their bookings have been scrapped, with one multi-site pub operator reporting that trade had dropped 20% as a result of the curfew, which was “more than expected”.
Operators are also reporting that the curfew is already impact on the lucrative Christmas period, with people unwilling to commit to celebrations if they have to be curtailed.
“This goes right through the Christmas period and my Pubco expect to be back at full rent in December. All of my Christmas bookings are now being cancelled and most of these have been booked from last year,” says one respondent.
Another pub operator says that 33% of the business’ annual turnover is after 10pm and that they were unsure whether they would be able to survive the next six months.
Other say that it is the additional rules that the Government has introduced that are damaging trade.
“The 10pm curfew is not the problem. It's the enforced table service which deters drinkers and adds to staff costs,” says one restaurant owner.
would survive six months of a 10pm curfew, 35% said no.
The curfew has also dented confidence in the future further. Two weeks ago, when asked whether they were confident in the future just 50% said they were, down from 58% the week before, and down from 67% the week before that.