This is not 2020 COVID, This is Newcastle City Centre right now, a warm summers night during restaurant week. If this is what taking back our country looks like, it’s sucks… well done scaring everybody off.. 🤬
I opened my first bar, The Quilted Camel , 28 years ago today… that’s pre internet… 😳
It’s been quite the roller coaster..
I hope I get to enjoy the next 28 as much…
Really frustrating to find staff handing in resignations after 12 months of support by the company... “we are excited to be re-opening” reply “I am quitting”
🤬🤬
I just want to stand at a bar, with a couple of pals, have a pint, laugh, shake hands with friends and enjoy the simplicity of shared company.... this is draining....
12 months of negativity from MSM, Twitter, Friends and colleagues was exhausting... would hospitality ever come back? The last 3 weeks tells me the doom mongers have lost... 👏👏 smiling people are the best...
My business ( 25 years in the making)was closed, I was terrified for the future of it for my staff and my family, I felt stressed and sick most days. This picture makes me angrier than I have for many years.. the fucking arrogance….
For the past 12 months Hospitality has been on life support... tomorrow we get to send the priest home.
Still a long road to recovery , but on behalf of the millions of people directly and indirectly employed I want to thank everybody for the support we have received....
So proud to see that common decency and respect was out in force today in Newcastle City Centre… our tolerant and welcoming community is our greatest asset…
@youth_unheard
You laughed in the face of someone doing their job?
They didn’t ask for Covid passports did they? They simple have a job to do..
Well done you….
Newcastle has been so busy all weekend with visitors but the Council have decided not to bother cleaning the streets this morning. What an awful parting memory for residents and guests alike..
I know we have staff issues, it’s hot, suppliers are running out, we are busy but not massively profitable..
HOWEVER, given the alternatives of the past 14 months I think we should put on our game faces and get through...
So the govt announce a near 10% wage rise, over 38% in 4 years and do nothing at all to support the businesses that have to pay it.. it’s not govt money… my industry is already taxed at 38% of turnover…. ENOUGH
We were forced to close, we were allowed to re-open under crippling restrictions, we struggled for stock and staff and through it all we ploughed on with a smile on our faces.
And now we have the bloody pinging app….
Any chance we could cut hospitality a break?
Hospitality faces well documented challenges but the elephant in the room is service standards.The erosion of them is a pandemic across the sector & will ultimately drive customers away.Lets stop predicting our impending demise and start inspiring our staff of the future.
@Kernow_King
Thats not the point. Obviously people should make their own choices but to quit literally in response to re-opening IS frustrating for me and thats beyond the significant costs of supporting them for the past year. Or am I not allowed to feel disappointed?
So customers can no longer park on Grey Street because of the councils vision. But if you work for the council and drive a Jaguar you can park on the pavement.
The resilience of those involved and connected with hospitality over the past 12 months is incredible. But don’t take that strength as a way to demean the challenges… they were and remain at times overwhelming.
12,383 cases of Indian variant identified leading to 126 hospital admissions.
83 of those patients had no vaccine, 28 had received 1 dose and 3 had received 2 doses.
Seems we have a way to combat this thing.
Being back in the business, looking after customers and helping staff feels simply amazing...
This really is the greatest business in the world..
Let’s get the rest open ASAP.... this is a wonderful tonic.
Had a really encouraging few weeks. We are hiring again and have had many fantastic candidates through the door. There seems to be energy and desire in people and all this nonsense of laziness or complacency with furlough seems a minority. Excited to work with those people...
So
@BorisJohnson
I followed all your rules and watched your stupid press conferences with enormous personal, emotional & financial damage to me and my business. Tonight I watch your staff on
@ITVNewsPolitics
"laugh and giggle" about their wine and cheese party. Just piss off
I know there are far bigger issues at stake, but I just want a game of golf, some chat with friends and a beer afterwards.... Such a simple desire and yet feels far away.
I really struggle with negative, petty, vindictive people… why lead a life where you focus on negatives and feeling bitter towards others? Embrace the good around you and the positives in your world….
Hospitality prepares to start week 2 of the recovery. Some tired bodies out there from our staff to our suppliers and delivery guys. But we are all thankfully to our customers and the weather gods.
@JamesMelville
But also the shocked look of those around him.. the sad thing is so many people were heavily invested in lockdowns, some enjoyed them and the free money, but the fact remains they were a global group think disaster.
Re-opening our businesses has many challenges.. staff, stock, energy, funding and emotional strength..
But compared to being shut and without a plan forward it’s easy.. let’s make the next few weeks define us...
Today has involved work calls and emails, golf in sunshine, interaction with friends and a coffee in the sun...
Feels fantastic to enjoy such simple things, but huge progress in quality of life...
And we are trading again in 12 days....
Twitter has been a great place for me during the times of Covid. Support,advise,guidance & even virtual & real world friendships.Thankyou all,even those with views that challenged my own.But as we come out of Covid I plan to step away from Twitter also.Time to move on.
I have to say I am delighted to have a road map. Its a bit longer than I would have ideally wanted, but assuming the rates and furlough stories are right we have cheaper costs when we do finally re-open. This terrible time finally has an endgame.
Everyday the world feels better and as we enter the 3rd weekend after restrictions were further eased I am feeling happy and ready to embrace the future…
Optimism is far more attractive than pessimism…
Happy Friday everybody…
Dominic Cummings really is a spiteful and nasty little man... Slowly drip feeding damning story after damning story to serve his own agenda whilst forgetting the fact he took the piss himself.. The whole lot of them are a barrel of rats.
3 weeks from now Hospitality in England will 75% through its first service of 2021 and the first step on the journey to recovery.
We have come a long way in the last year, but now is the time to focus on the future, the rebuild and getting our venues fit for the future .
Working a Saturday night, driving around the bars now more have opened and it feels just fantastic.... not sure who missed it more, the customers or me?
Covid, Boris, this whole shit show is depressing…..a never ending cycle of bullshit and gesture politics…
I can literally feel the energy draining out of me…
Our road map is the route out, the grants just announced are a huge benefit and then more detail in the budget next week. Let’s all be positive, it’s good for our staff, funders, suppliers and our personal mental health. The sun is starting to rise.
Seeing hospitality getting back on its feet, watching customers embrace the shared experiences we provide and our staff walk with pride and confidence genuinely fills me with joy....
Thankyou all at
@wylambrewery
and
@VaulkhardGroup
for helping with the Exibition Park clean today… great to make a positive difference and catch up over a couple of beers and a burger.. next year we will get the sun..☀️
Fathers Day is a day of joy, celebrating the love of my daughters and sadness at missing my Dad…
Life is a journey of ups and downs..
Happy Father’s Day to all past and present….
I love this picture of the Tyne Bridge under construction… zoom in to the building bottom right centre.. you will notice it’s being part demolished and there is a ladder from the roof to the bridge.. this is pre health and safety legislation!!!!
I am so sad for those involved in hospitality in London... you have been dealt a shit hand.
But, if any good can come of this perhaps you can use your voice and proximity to govt to illustrate the unfairness and damage of these restrictions. They ain’t listened to us yet 🤬🤬
@CharlotteCGill
Maybe the silent majority show their anger in ways that don’t involve violence and criminality.... the scenes on the TV are vile and disgusting and any sympathy with the movement is lost by these actions....
So are we expected to say Thankyou for the £1000?
I am embarrassed to take a handout from the government, and one so derisory is more embarrassing for them than me.....
3 weeks ago I had my 1st jab and yet I don’t feel controlled by Bill Gates or like a lab rat.. I just feel rather happy and excited for the future. Perhaps the world ain’t flat after all?
In 2005 Test Match Cricket gained a new fan in me and I suspect many others. I have loved cricket since that series and am thankful for the introduction… I suspect the 2023 Ashes will have gained the next generation… what a series…
@dparkerchef
Sadly so predictable..
Got to say though that for everyone we have lost in those circumstances we have replaced with fresher, sharper and energetic people...
There are stars out there waiting to find you...
Hospitality is an industry full of fun, personality and emotion. When you read the tweets of
@pub_that
from last night you realise how badly wrong things have gone for us.. her emotion is visceral… No job should be doing this to good people.
So once again on the hoof goverment policy identifies pubs as a problem. We could be mandated to ask for vaccine passports to allow entry but shops and supermarkets don't? Did we offend them in some way I am not aware of?
Fair play
@NewcastleCC
, that can’t have been an easy decision to row back on the Jesmond interventions, and I know some will be as equally frustrated and disappointed as I am elated…. But democracy is alive and well and that’s good for all….
@JamesMelville
Your right James... been keeping so positive but this is death by a thousand cuts... sure just having a bad day, but I am sick of being controlled by people I don’t respect.
What a depressing place politics finds itself. While they internalise issues and squabble amongst themselves about the next general election, they forget the job is not winning, its governing, guiding and leading. They forget why they have the job.
I don't have a "before" pic, unfortunately, but the historic (and newly renamed) ex-Blackie Boy pub in
#Newcastle
's Bigg Market is looking good now that the wrapping has come off its façade restoration. The new look celebrates its heritage, while hopefully enticing new customers.
@PubsAdvisory
@grantshapps
Heineken have let themselves and the industry down. They will still sell mountains of cheap booze to the supermarkets to maintain their volume though.....
Pavement cafes throughout Newcastle are not allowed heating due to rules made by
@NewcastleCC
, but a Christmas Market bar that takes money from these businesses and is part funded by the council is allowed heating. Seems fair 🤬🤬
@ChronicleLive
@gm_stone
The hospitality industry in the North East last sold a pint 14 weeks ago. If we really are all in this together
@BorisJohnson
then I think we have definitely done our bit..Over to you now....
#EnoughIsEnough
@MerlynStaffie
@SeniorStaffy
The person sounds to genuinely care for her dog. Chipped, vaccinated etc. can we please contact the lady and ask if the dog can goto a rescue? I will pay the money and costs for fuel , vets bills etc. please let’s help this little girl.
@ThatTimWalker
Worth 10 minutes of your time - the man is an utter disgrace and has shamed our nation and let down its people by lies, corruption and laziness.