Coronavirus: ‘For NI pubs this is our world war – we must fight no matter the cost’

Colin Neill made the comments as he issued a public plea for immediate government aid for stricken food-and-drink firms.

Mr Neill, head of Hospitality Ulster, was speaking after the Beannchor Belfast pub and hotel group announced 800 temporary redundancies this week, followed by 180 in the Clover Group (which has now shut down Belfast’s oldest pub White’s Tavern, founded in 1630, plus five others).

Mr Neill said some measures announced this week by the government (such as loans and grants) were still not available today.

“I’ve lost count of the number of pubs, restaurants and hotels that are closed,” he said.

“It’s a tsunami. The world is falling apart around us.”

He said what is needed straight away is a £200 weekly payment for each person in the sector who has been put out of work – saying they are not “unemployed” in the typical sense, in that once the crisis is over they should hopefully still have jobs.

This is substantially higher than the government’s weekly payments under Jobseekers’ Allowance, which is £73.10 for single adults over 25.

The government has announced an automatic rates holiday of three months to all NI businesses, and grants of £25,000 to hospitality businesses in buildings with rateable values between £15,000 and £51,000.

However he said rates are just one cost businesses face, and called on the government to usher in a total freeze on the payment of rents too.

“This is our world war,” he said.

“If we were sending tanks to fight a war, we wouldn’t be counting how much the tanks are. We’d be saying ‘how many can we make?’.

“Germany have only just finished off paying the world war. This is about borrowing whatever it takes.

“It’d maybe take generations to pay this back. But our whole economy has to be protected.”

He said out of about 65,000 hotel and bar staff Province-wide “at this stage we must be heading towards 10,000” being out of work.

Lavery’s in the Botanic district of south Belfast – one of the biggest bar complexes in Northern Ireland – today said it is closed for the forseeable future. It employs roughly 200 staff.

And at Dobbins Inn in Carrickfergus, hotel trade has been “decimated” said deputy manager Greg Braniff.

Of 15 rooms, only two were occupied when the News Letter called this week.

The inn is a popular landmark with roots dating back to the 13th century, and was recently refurbished.

It also has a bar and restaurant and has started a food collection service for customers who do not want to sit in.

“We’re just going to have to keep going,” he said.

“But there’s a lot of uncertainty – uncertainty from the government in particular.

“It needs serious attention in the next coming days.

“It’s not an issue where they can sit and monitor things and see how they pan out.”

Things like deferrals of VAT and tax deadlines would really help, he said.