R&S Pride FEB 223.qxp 05/01/2021 13:44 Page 50
RUTLAND & STAMFORD RESTAURANTS
SUPPORT YOUR
LOCAL
This year, spring isn’t just a time for new growth in your garden, it’s also a chance for the hospitality industry to put a devastating year behind it. Here, landlord and chef Tom Kerridge reveals why supporting your local pub, restaurant or hotel is more important than ever before... Words: Rob Davis.
THE NEW YEAR is usually a pretty flat time for the hospitality industry. We’re stuffed from Christmas, all spent up, and determined to follow a new year’s resolution to eat more healthily, cut down on booze or lose weight... and those are hardly conditions which are music to the ears of publicans and chefs.
The hospitality industry accounts for 10% of UK employment, 6% of businesses and 5% of GDP. It’s is the third largest private sector employer in the UK after retail and social work – double the size of financial services and bigger than automotive, pharmaceuticals and aerospace sectors combined.
But this year is different. Worse. Much worse. And that’s why it’s incumbent on us all to support our local pubs, restaurants, coffee shops and hotels to ensure they can claw back some of the lost ground from a miserable 2020.
It creates £130bn in economic activity and generates £38bn of tax receipts for the Exchequer, funding vital services whilst employing 2,900,000 people.
“Pubs are the living rooms of the whole community,” says Tom Kerridge. “They are spaces where people connect, they get rid of loneliness. People connect in pubs and restaurants.” “They’re so important particularly at times like these. And now, there are so many places that are losing money hand over fist. “Places that were close to breaking even, or just making a very small profit, pre-lockdown, now being locked down and coming out the other side, the profit margins are just not there to be able to repay any loans, let alone break even or make any money.” 50
The message, then is not only simple, but it’s also not that unpleasant to follow. This month and in the months that follow, it’s imperative that we dine out, drink up, and support as many local independent pubs, restaurants and coffee shops as possible. “If we don’t use those pubs, restaurants and coffee shops, they won’t be there in the future. If you don’t just call in for a couple of drinks or just a coffee and a slice of cake every now and then, or for that Friday night meal, that pub’s not going to be there. They need your help to survive, please support your local!” n Over the page we’ve selected a few of our favourite Rutland and Stamford venues as a reminder of what they have to offer their customers this season. Meanwhile Tom’s series Saving Britain’s Pubs, is on BBC iPlayer now.
