NEWS SPECIAL
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Industry charity GroceryAid
SCOTTISH HOSPITALITY CLOSURE EXTENDED BY A WEEK
says it is facing increased
BARS AND RESTAURANTS IN SCOTLAND’S CENTRAL BELT WILL
demand for services as the
REMAIN CLOSED FOR ANOTHER WEEK AFTER SHORT-TERM
pandemic presents new
RESTRICTIONS WERE EXTENDED.
GROCERYAID IN DEMAND
challenges. The charity had to assist more than 17,000 people during the period and distributed £4.25m in financial support to help almost 3,200 colleagues.
LEARNING FUNDING CUT Retail trade union Usdaw has written to the Secretary of State for Education urging the Government to reconsider
The two week short-term closure of the hospitality industry in Scotland’s central belt has been extended by another week as a further 28 deaths linked to Covid-19 have been recorded. Scotland is due to move to a five-tier system of virus alert levels from 2 November with the extended hospitality closures enabling “a smooth transition”. These measures were originally meant to expire on 26 October, but First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said
they would now continue until a new “strategic framework” comes into force. The five-tier system will see different levels applied nationally or regionally depending on infection levels. Sturgeon said the middle three tiers would be “broadly equivalent” to the three-tier system in England but the Scottish system would add an extra tier at the top and an extra one at the bottom which would be very close to a full lockdown.
its shock announcement to withdraw all funding for the Union Learning Fund from the end of March 2021 in England. The union said the the funding cut was “shocking”.
CO-OP BRUM STORES The Co-op is to open two food stores in Birmingham this month creating 30 local jobs. A brand new shop will open in the city’s University Locks while a complete overhaul of its Harborne petrol station enables it to extend the existing food store on the site by almost a third.
POST OFFICES ‘A LIFELINE’ TO STRUGGLING HIGH STREETS New research carried out among more than 2,000 adults by Public First has found that visits to the Post Office help drive another 400 million visitors to other shops, restaurants and local businesses. Some 33% of respondents said that on their last trip to the Post Office they had stopped at another shop, cafe, pub or restaurant, driving an estimated £1.1bn in additional revenue. Additionally, 43% of small businesses say they would not be able to continue functioning without the Post Office. The research showed that 82% of the public see their local Post Office as an essential service, with young people valuing it almost as much as older people. A Post Office came out as the top choice when respondents were asked what would make up their ideal High Street – far ahead of supermarkets or a GP surgery.
10 I SLRMAG.CO.UK / ISSUE 27 / WEDNESDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2020
