As social distancing and self-isolation becomes the norm across the UK, experts are warning that the hospitality industry will be ‘devastated’. While the government has introduced measures to help businesses, the community is also coming together to find inventive ways to keep local restaurants, cafes and bars in business.
One of these is in the form of vouchers. In Newcastle, three pubs launched voucher campaigns to support local street-food venues that appear at the venues as pop-ups. Urging people to ‘prepay’ for meals for when ‘the crisis has passed’, The Free Trade Inn, Cumberland Arms and Mean Eyed Cat all said that the vendors would likely have to close if the community didn’t support them.
‘We owe a lot to our street food pals, they add so much to our businesses when they trade here,’ they said in a statement. ‘The almost guaranteed drop in footfall is going to push street food to the limits and we simply can't stand by and watch that happen without trying to help.’
Elsewhere, other companies have offered voucher schemes for a range of restaurants with eatery finding service Wriggle hosting a voucher scheme called the Indie Kitty. Starfish & Coffee in Brighton is selling vouchers of up to £40 to redeem in future, as is Nibble in Manchester and The Crown in London.
Of course, pre-buying vouchers does come with a risk that they will never be redeemable in the event social-distancing and self-isolation is encouraged for a long period of time.
‘Due to collected monies being directly forwarded to businesses, we are unable to offer refunds on vouchers in any instance,’ one website warns. ‘Please be aware that unfortunately there is a risk that businesses may cease trading. We hope you understand this risk and continue to support the initiative regardless.’
Nevertheless, the schemes are proving a huge success as people jump to support their local area and favourite restaurants. ‘You have got to have a bit of faith and try and to help people where you can,’ Gemma Moore told the BBC. ‘I'm not missing the money and actually it would just be a real shame if a business closed, I would not be thinking about my losing out on a tenner.’
As more creative ways are thought up to help local businesses, here’s hoping that coming together as a community will prevent the predicted devastation of our much-loved socialising spots.
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