Leeds city centre bar manager says 10pm closing rule will 'devastate' businesses

Pubs, bars and restaurants in England will be ordered to close by 10pm each night from Thursday under tough restrictions announced by Boris Johnson in a bid to curb the rapid rise in coronavirus cases.

And people are being asked to work from home if they can after a Government U-turn.

James Hudson, who manages Mojo Leeds on Merrion Street, said he fears not all bars in the city will survive.

Mr Hudson said the bar does the majority of business between 10pm and 4am and fears takings will drop by around 70 per cent at Mojo as a result of having to close at 10pm

Mr Hudson said: "It will be devastating for the majority of bars in Leeds as most of the business is done past 10pm. It's going to end up with staff going on furlough again."

"It will be barely worth opening. It's going to be extremely challenging.

"There are some bars which are busy during the day but there are a tremendous amount of bars focused on late night drinking. I just hope it doesn't go on for too long."

"I think it's such a shame because they have worked so hard to implement this new way of working in the bars with table service, keeping sites really clean and asking guests not to stand up and talk and mingle and dance as they normally would in bars.

"I'm not entirely sure it's going to make a huge amount of difference. People will still come out before 10pm. I can't see it making a huge impact in terms of slowing the virus.

"People are still mingling in the streets. People are still going about their normal business.

"It is going to devastate businesses and devastate livelihoods. I think it's more in line with universities and colleges opening.

"I think that's what it's really about - the fear of students going out and catching it and spreading it.

"I would be surprised if there weren't some casualties of this latest lockdown. There's a good chance that some won't reopen their doors after it."

Chris Marsden is manager of Leeds Postal Service bar at West Point on Wellington Street, Leeds.

Mr Marsden said the 10pm restriction will not have a major impact on his bar.

But he said the Government's decision to once again ask people to work from home where they can will have a major impact on trade.

He said: "We are in the financial district. We are going to have more of a hit because we are surrounded by a lot of offices and there will be no-one in the city working so we are in big trouble.

"If there are no office workers then there's no trade coming to this end of town. We are 85 per cent down on what we used to do a month.

Mr Marsden said on Tuesday September 15 he took just £9.40 in a day's trading from 12pm to 8pm.

He sold just one pint of craft ale and one pint of lager during an eight hour shift.

Mr Marsden said: "It doesn't work , the figures just don't add up."

He said: "The 10pm closure isn't an issue for us, it's everyone working from home, which I know is the right thing to do as we are in the middle of a pandemic.

Gareth Allan, a barman at The Brotherhood sports bar on New Briggate, said the bar is open until 1am on weekdays and 3am on Sunday mornings.

Mr Allan said: "It's very worrying. We thought we were out of the woods with this really but it seems like we are back on it."

Jonathon Swaine, managing director at Grosvenor Casinos who run a casino on Wellington Bridge Street in Leeds, said: “We are bitterly disappointed and extremely concerned about the serious ramifications of the decision to impose a 10pm curfew on casino opening hours.

"There cannot be any other regulated industry as reliant on revenues generated after 10pm in the UK. For us, it's more than half of our revenues.

"Our sector is already feeling enormous strain and this curfew puts us in a perilous position.

“We are urging the Government to review their decision which will have next to no positive impact on the suppression of the virus but which is now going to have a crippling impact on our business and put thousands of jobs at risk.

"We have made it clear and will continue to make it clear that we are keen to work with the Government to find a better targeted, more effective and less destructive treatment to the control of the virus – which we all wish to achieve as our primary aim – than a 10pm blanket curfew on casinos.”