the times | Saturday August 1 2020 2GM 13News
The kudos of a Michelin star usually
guarantees a steady parade of custom-
ers in search of fine dining, but Britain’s
most highly regarded restaurants are
now some of its most vulnerable.
Restaurants in the Michelin guide
have been unable to replicate their ser-
vices in takeaway form, so many are
pinning their hopes on the govern-
ment’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme,
which runs from Monday to August 31.
It offers a 50 per cent discount on food
and non-alcoholic drinks consumed
Monday to Wednesday, with a maxi-
mum saving of £10 per person.
While it is expected to provide the
biggest boost to low-cost restaurants, it
has been taken up by more than 40 of
the 67 Michelin venues that have re-
opened. There are a further 102 Miche-
lin-starred places that have not yet re-
sumed trading.
Owners and chefs said that they were
pleasantly surprised by how effective
the scheme had been and that demand
for early-week bookings was almost as
high as last August. Ed Thaw, owner of
the Leroy bistro in Shoreditch, east
London, said he had reduced capacity
from 54 to 36 diners because of social-
distancing guidelines, but demand was
returning to a pre-lockdown level.
Leroy reopened three weeks ago for
sittings on Thursdays, Fridays and Sat-
urdays but the government scheme has
prompted Mr Thaw to extend opening
to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So far he
has 17 bookings for the early part of
next week, but hopes that the number
will rise to the 45 he would have expect-
ed before the pandemic. “I feel goodOn Monday it will be a month since the
biggest lifting of lockdown restrictions,
although even before then, areas of
Britain’s economy were gradually being
allowed to reopen. While some busi-
nesses, such as bowling alleys, ice rinks
and casinos, remain closed, shops, pubs,
restaurants, gyms and hair salons are
among the businesses adjusting to
working in a new way. Here we review
how different parts of the economy
have fared since lockdown was lifted.pubs
In the run-up to July 4, when pubs in
England were allowed to reopen, the
more excitable headlines were calling it
Super Saturday. It proved some way
short of super but trading since then
has shown a slow but steady improve-
ment.
The Coffer Peach Business Tracker,
which monitors the revenues of most of
the leading pub groups, said like-for-
like sales last week were down 29 per
cent on the same week last year. Not
great, but an improvement on the de-
cline of 32.4 per cent the week before
and the fall of 39.3 per cent in the first
week back. Not all pubs have reopened.
CGA, a customer consultancy, said
that 71 per cent of hostelries were up
and running. It is still early days, how-
ever. Publicans will be pinning their
hopes on the cut in VAT, the Eat Out to
Help Out scheme and the holiday
season to boost trade.restaurants
“Working from home” are three words
that strike fear into restaurateurs.Bistros embrace Eat Out scheme
about the future of Leroy. It’s a start and
we will build from here.” he said. He de-
scribed the scheme as “one of the more
useful ones”, adding: “I’m not surprised
that a number of high-end restaurants
have taken advantage of it.”
He said low footfall meant that he
had been forced to raise prices and may
have to do so again, despite Leroy’s rep-
utation as one of the most affordable
with a Michelin star. “It could be that
we push into being a more exclusive, oc-
casional restaurant.”
Daniel Morgenthau, owner of Port-
land in central London, said capacity
had fallen from 38 to 22 but demand
was high. “Yesterday we had 22 guests
for lunch and on the same day last year
it was 32. We have already seen huge
take-up for bookings on Wednesdays in
August as it essentially enables guests
to enjoy a three-course lunch in a Mi-
chelin-starred restaurant for £25. Now
more than ever we are delighted to be
able to, in a very small way, provide an
escape for a couple of hours from all
that is happening in the world.”
Tom Kitchin, chef at The Kitchin in
Edinburgh, said that the restaurant was
operating at about 75 per cent capacity
but he hoped that the scheme would
help to fill it. “I think the Eat Out to
Help Out scheme is a great initiative to
help support the hospitality industry in
these uncertain times,” he said.
L’Enclume, near Grange-over-
Sands, Cumbria, said business was so
good it was not taking advantage of the
scheme. Its capacity has reduced from
50 to 44 but it is booked until October.
“People aren’t going abroad on holiday
so they’re coming to the Lake District
instead,” a spokeswoman said.Jack Malvern Michelin stars taking part
Adam's, Birmingham; Allium, Penrith;
Amaya, London; Andrew Fairlie at
Gleneagles; Angel at Hetton, Skipton;
Aquavit, London; Barrafina, London;
Beach House, Swansea; Blackbird,
Newbury; Brat, London; the Bybrook,
Chippenham; Celeste at the
Lanesborough, London; the Coach,
Marlow; Cottage in the Wood,
Braithwaite; Coworth Park, Ascot;
the Cross, Kenilworth; the Crown,
Maidenhead; the Dining Room,
Malmesbury; EIPIC, Belfast; Elystan
Street, London; the Elephant, Torquay;
Five Fields, London; Galvin La
Chapelle, London; Gymkhana,
London; Hakkasan Hanway, London;
Hakkasan Mayfair, London;
Hambleton Hall, Oakham; Hide,
London; House of Tides, Newcastle
upon Tyne; Hrishi, Windemere; Ikoyi,
London; Interlude, Horsham; Kai,
Mayfair; Kitchen W8, London; the
Kitchin, Edinburgh; L’Ortolan,
Reading; Leroy, London; Lyle’s,
London; Murano, London; Nut Tree
Inn, Murcott; Outlaw’s New Road, Port
Isaac; Paul Ainsworth at No 6,
Padstow; Pensons, Tenbury Wells;
Pollen Street Social, London; Portland,
London; Quilon, London; Red Lion,
Pewsey; Sabor, London; Simpsons,
Birmingham; Sketch Lecture Room,
London; Social Eating House, London;
St John, London; Trishna, London;
Tudor Room, Egham; Two One Five,
Oxford; Veeraswamy, London; Walnut
Tree, Abergavenny; White Swan,
Burnley; Winteringham Fields,
Scunthorpe; Woodspeen, NewburyParents have been asking nannies to
check their temperature every morn-
ing before coming, avoid public trans-
port, use separate hand towels and even
to move in with their family to keep
everyone safe during the pandemic.
Agencies have reported that demand
for nannies and au pairs dried up when
the lockdown began but picked up as
parents realised that they needed help
while they worked from home.
Families and nannies were both
nervous about travelling and mingling
between households at the height of
the pandemic, so extra safeguards were
agreed to minimise the risk of transmit-
ting the virus.
“What has changed massively is that
more people are asking for live-in nan-
nies,” Suzannah Bushill, of the London
Nanny Agency, said. “We’re seeing 20
or 30 per cent more live-in requests.
They are not trying to shackle the
nanny to the house but want to know
what they are doing. Most people are
very reasonable and fair about it.”
When one family was particularly
nervous about employing a nanny, Ms
Bushill told them: “Maybe you should
ask the nanny to do a temperature
check before they arrive. We are getting
a lot of people wanting nannies who
don’t have to rely on public transport,
who can walk or cycle or drive.”
Hannah Goodson, the founder of
Hampstead Nannies, said that often the
nannies were more anxious about
safety than the parents. She said that at
the start of the lockdown she acted asNannies go through the
wringer to help parents
an advice line for worried nannies. She
said: “They would say, ‘I have a partner
who is not well and needs to shield,
should I still go on?’ or, ‘I work for a
family that is not social distancing,
should I go in?’ ”
Ms Goodson said that the job became
more intense during the lockdown.
Nannies could no longer take children
out to playgrounds or organised activi-
ties. The dynamic was often different
when parents were working from
home, tempting children to misbehave.
Katia Pereira, 51, works for a family
whose mother is a key worker. At the
start of the lockdown she was pulled
over three times by police who asked
why she was out. She presented a letter
that the family gave her to show she was
helping a key worker. “They thanked
me for having the letter,” she said.
Ms Pereira and her husband formed
a two-household bubble with the
family. Even as restrictions have eased
she has not socialised with anyone else.
Ines Francey Chinarro, 43, an execu-
tive assistant, has had Mariela Garcia
Gonzales, 22, as a live-in nanny to care
for her two children.
“We created our own bubble and
treat Mariela as part of the family,” she
said. “We were so grateful throughout
the pandemic to have Mariela. It was
impossible for us to work from home
and home-school at the same time.”
Mrs Francey Chinarro has been fur-
loughed and has gone to her native
Spain, taking Ms Garcia Gonzales. “We
feel safer here,” she said. “They have
taken the pandemic more seriously.
Everybody wears a mask here.”Kaya BurgessNews
Britain is getting back to
work... with a difference
expected. Other retailers, including
JD Sports, have said that footfall to city
centres and shopping malls remains de-
pressed. There are a few bright spots: a
boom in demand for puppies and kit-
tens during lockdown has boosted Pets
at Home, which has had a huge demand
for vaccinations since reopening its vets
chains, and its grooming salons have
been fully booked, with 120,000 dogs
groomed over the past eight weeks.gyms
After a week it is early days for gyms but
the biggest operator said that signs
were positive. Humphrey Cobbold, the
chief executive of Pure Gym, which has
270 budget clubs in Britain, said that the
220 clubs in England it had opened
were seeing a “healthy flow” of mem-
bers coming back. Mr Cobbold predict-
ed that numbers would improve by “a
few per cent” every week.
The Gym Group, the second biggest
budget operator, said that even though
it offered a “free freeze on fees during
the lockdown”, with no payments taken
while gyms were closed, 178,000 of its
870,000 members had cancelled their
contracts. Research suggested, how-
ever, that 92 per cent were keen to
return and it remained optimistic.tv and film
The television industry has made a ten-
tative return, with soap operas featur-
ing the pandemic in storylines. ITV
began filming new episodes of Corona-
tion Street in early June, with conditions
on the set adapted to comply with
Covid-19 restrictions. Dramas will re-
sume production this month, with
shows such as The Voice UK and Brit-
ain’s Got Talent ready to begin filming.Neighbourhood restaurants may be
doing well but city centre establish-
ments are struggling. Central London,
in particular, relies on commuters but
little commuting is being done as most
people continue to work from home or
remain on furlough.
Compared with pubs, reopened res-
taurants are struggling, the Coffer
Peach Business Tracker reports.
Among the big casual dining groups
only 29 per cent of outlets have re-
opened, possibly because so many have
gone bust.
Chains that have shrunk include
Carluccio’s, Café Rouge, Zizzi, Bella
Italia, Frankie & Benny’s, Las Iguanas
and Byron. Pizza Express is seeking to
shed 75 loss-making sites. The groups
recorded a like-for-like sales decline of
22.4 per cent last week compared with
the same period last year.
Among the independents there are
massive variations, with some London
eateries doing only a quarter of pre-cri-
sis sales. The campaigning group
Hospitality Union says independents
are probably averaging half their previ-
ous sales, although with no business
rates and the VAT cut that is probably
enough to break even.retail
The snaking queues of shoppers out-
side Primark stores on the day lock-
down lifted suggested that there had
been a pent-up demand for cheap
clothes. Since then the budget fashion
retailer has said that trading has been
“reassuring and encouraging”, with
sales higher than last year. The chain
Next also admitted this week that it had
been far too gloomy with its predictions
after its sales recovered better thanDominic Walsh, Ashley Armstrong
Simon Duke, Andrew Ellsonbathroom. Paul Bennett, of Red Sky
Shepherd’s Huts, which built Mr
Cameron’s model, said pubs and
hotels were also buying them as a
way to expand room availability.
For those looking to book a last-
minute holiday, accommodation
supply is very expensive or very
basic — often both. Even the most
rudimentary structures are in high
demand, with owners charging
more than £100 a night for stays in
tents and wigwams hastily erected
in gardens.
Orla Gibbons, 28, whose holiday
plans in Ireland were scuppered,
said most listings that she looked at
in Cornwall were “a combination of
being not very nice and quite
expensive”. She and her boyfriend
eventually found a camper van in St
Ives that will cost about £290 for
three nights.
Build your own bubble, Bricks & MortarDevon RACHEL BRAGG PHOTOGRAPHY/BLACKDOWN SHEPHERD HUTS
£100+ per
night