“Help Out Hospitality will go to supporting businesses where they need it most”
"It's in the government's interest to help hospitality."
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Industry professionals descended on London's Westminster for the third HospoDemo protest in an effort to secure greater support for UK hospitality from the government.
On Monday, Professionals from across the country made their way to Parliament Square to make as much noise as possible ahead of the Autumn Budget on Thursday.
Organisers behind the demonstration called on the government to reduce VAT to 10%, offer a business rates holiday or reduction, and launch a visa scheme to allow overseas staff to work in hospitality, to help protect jobs and businesses.
Attending the demonstration, Sacha Lord, Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, told protestors: "Christmas is going to camouflage how bad it is right now. When those bookings fall away in January, February, March, it's going to be a domino effect. We're going to see endless closures, so [the government] need to act now."
The second half of the protest took place outside the Treasury, where the crowd united to chant "Save our pubs! Save our pubs!".
Commenting on the group’s third demonstration, Rachel Harty Organiser of HospoDemo, said: "What's important is the government listen to what we're asking for. Jeremy Hunt is currently inside the Treasury that we're standing outside and is hearing this noise and reading our signs."
Rachael told media attending the protest that the size of the demonstration had been impacted by the ongoing staffing crisis.
She said many people couldn't leave their restaurant, bar, or café to attend because they didn't have enough staff to work the hours of the demonstration.
She told reporters on the scenes that some professionals were even struggling to afford the train fare to London to show their support for the protest due to tight situation for businesses across the country.
Rachael added: "[Hospitality is] the third biggest employer in the UK and we provide £130b to the economy each year. If [the government] don't help the industry soon, there won't be any businesses to collect that VAT from and all those business interruption loans won't be paid back, so it's in the government's interest to help hospitality."
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"It's in the government's interest to help hospitality."
“Help Out Hospitality will go to supporting businesses where they need it most”
Number of no-shows halved in 2022 saving hospitality £5bn
Energy bill cap welcomed by hospitality but more support still needed
Tom Kerridge: “The whole of hospitality is facing a very tough time at the minute.”
UK hospitality pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II
Hospitality sector urges new Prime Minister Liz Truss to ‘act quickly and decisively' to save the industry
