Rail strikes this weekend will make a difficult month for pubs and restaurants even more difficult, businesses say.
After strikes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, RMT union members will continue their union action on Saturday. More railroad strikes over wages, job security and working conditions follow the December strikes that brought the country to a standstill in the run-up to Christmas.
Catering companies say the previous measure prompted many customers to cancel their food and drink plans, including canceling Christmas parties, hurting their bottom line. Now they fear January will be an even bleaker month than usual as customers and staff are forced to stay at home and consumers also grapple with a post-Christmas cost-of-living crisis and stretched family budgets.
Kate Nicholls, CEO of industry organization UKHospitality, said: “The rail strikes have had a huge cumulative impact on the hospitality industry, its employees and customers since it began last year. Hospitality is a collateral damage in this series: the total strike period from last June until the end of the currently planned strikes in January cost the industry £2.5bn.
Ms Nicholls called the situation “unsustainable” and said it creates other “totally preventable” problems for businesses, “besides rising energy prices, labor problems and falling consumer confidence.”
She added: “It is important that all parties involved in the negotiations find a solution as soon as possible in order to avoid these devastating strikes that continue to affect the hospitality industry.”
Asked if the drop in trade was due to the cost of living crisis and plummeting household budgets, a UKHospitality spokesman said “a number of factors” had contributed to it.
She said the December strikes had a “major impact” on consumer confidence, leading to cancellations of bookings and lack of transportation, and preventing employees from getting to and from work.
Ross McKenzie, co-owner of Crazy Pedro’s, a chain of bars and pizzerias in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, said his business was hurt by the December stocks and urged the government to reach an agreement with the railroad to “keep the land in the move again”.
“These are certainly difficult times,” Mr Mackenzie said.
“Usually [January comes] after we filled the treasury in December, but everything did not go as we hoped, because people [were] cannot access their personal files… Many people have been released on bail.
He said that the December strikes coincided with freezing temperatures, further scaring off customers. He added: “January is quite tough.
“I just hope the government comes up with a deal soon … so we can get the country moving again and get people back into the hospitality industry.”
Source: I News
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