WELCOME

Welcome from Malcolm Bell

In many ways it seems a long time ago when we first heard the news about a strange new virus in China. But in many other ways, the last two years seem to have flown past, as all of us have been trying to plan and revise plans while reacting to a fast-moving situation, that none of us even thought about, let alone done any preparation for. It was just a year ago when the tiers system had brought most of us close to tears and we were looking forward to a partial recovery over Christmas and the New Year only for the Government then to announce new restrictions, that not only massively reduced Christmas trade, but also wiped out most business over the New Year.

So, we started 2021 back where we had been in the late March 2020 with a lockdown, furloughing staff, revising cashflow forecasts and awaiting grants. The sector lost the whole of the first quarter of the year and almost half of the second quarter. In total, we lost around four and a half to five and a half months of trading and then I’m glad to say the business did pick up and pick up in spades. The challenges changed to not only coping with the return in volume of guests but also coping with their concerns and wants, along with the additional cleaning procedures and staff shortages and supply difficulties. It was a summer we will always remember, September and October were strong, although November has probably returned to what would be an average November in pre-pandemic years. Overall, with the help and support of the Government initiatives, 2021 turned out to be a good year despite the circumstances and challenges. But a good year did not mean an easy year, not just because of the lockdowns, but because of staff shortages from not only Covid but also from the “pingdemic” - what fun days those were. We also faced the challenge of accommodating staff, and we need to develop solutions for accommodation for workers, in not only hospitality but also in other sectors especially health and care in 2022 and beyond. So, it has been one “hell of a year” and one that makes me very proud of the sector as you took on the challenges, coped with an almost weekly set of new stresses but most importantly seized the opportunities and survived to fight another day

Roll on 2022!