Derbyshire hospitality looks at how to work over winter with Covid-19
The government is making an announcement at 4pm about the Covid plan for winter months
Last updated 14th Sep 2021
Businesses in Derbyshire might be taking on their own strategies for working in the months to come.
Boris Johnson is giving an update on the winter Covid plan this afternoon and will be outlining what can be expected for day-to-day life post-covid restrictions. The government has already said: 'more harmful economic and social restrictions would only be considered as a last resort' and that the prospect of another lockdown should be avoided.
It is also being advised that businesses use the NHS Covid Pass to manage whether customers have been vaccinated or not according to Health secretary Sajid Javid.
There may be a sense of relief for the hospitality sector which has had to work around restrictions for 18 months to hear that there will be no impending lockdown soon; but some are already looking ahead to how they may have to adapt to future restrictions regardless of the announcement today.
A coffee shop in Hope is set for all outcomes, with a hatch still running as well as outdoor seating and mask wearing indoors. The manager Melanie Tarrant said:
"We just don't know what's going to happen, you can't put all your eggs in one basket. You need to kind of safeguard your business. We've seen plenty of our neighbours who have had to close over the past few months because they haven't had a safe way of actually delivering their service to customers under the tougher rules."
Balancing safety
She also noted that many of the safety measures will remain in place no matter what the government's advice is to protect the wellbeing of staff and customers. Tarrant added:
"We will be continuing opening as a hatch... and put the same Covid measures in place. We have hand sanitiser and wear masks even though we don't need to."
Businesses in Derbyshire have benefitted from schemes like furlough since the start of the pandemic, but there is now the question of whether they can sustain their recovery into the rest of the year. Tarrant said:
"If there was another lockdown; would they reactivate the furlough scheme which is meant to be ending this month? Because obviously, that would be very difficult for us to operate without the furlough scheme being in place."
"There has been a lot of government help and I feel like it has really helped a lot of businesses during a really tough time. But I feel like Covid will be around for a long time, and as a business, we need to think of ways we can adapt going forward."