Acclaimed chef and owner of Liverpool’s Art School restaurant, Paul Askew, and city BID boss Bill Addy, both welcome £4bn lifeline for the hospitality sector. Tony McDonough reports

Leading Liverpool restaurateur Paul Askew has hailed Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £4bn support package for the hospitality industry as “truly great news”.

Mr Askew, an acclaimed chef and owner of the city’s Art School restaurant, says Mr Sunak’s announcement in his summer statement to the House of Commons, showed the Government was listening to the hospitality sector.

In the statement, the Chancellor announced that VAT will be cut from the current rate of 20% to 5% for the next six months on food, accommodation and attractions. The cut lasts from Wednesday, July 8, until January 12, 2021.

He also unveiled what he called a first for the UK. Under the ‘eat out to help out’ scheme, meals eaten at any participating businesses, from Mondays to Wednesdays, will be 50% off up to a maximum discount of £10 per head for everyone, including children. 

Mr Askew told LBN: “This is truly great news for hospitality businesses and the visitor economy as a whole. A 5% VAT rate is yet another lifeline given in these times of need for businesses to survive. It is something that we as an industry have been lobbying about for some time.

“Hospitality is a major employer in our city region, supporting 55000 jobs, and the combination of the job retention bonus scheme to preserve jobs plus the stimulus of reduced VAT and the August Eat out campaign show that our voice is being heard.

“There is still much to do as this will not be the end of our ask to Government. But it does give us a huge boost and another reason to have increased hope and optimism that we can preserve jobs businesses and in turn the fabric of our city’s leisure sector.

“The funding for 16 to 20-year-olds is massive, too, particularly in our sector but throughout other business sectors, too.”

On trade at the Art School since hospitality businesses reopened on July 4, he added: “It’s looking great for July, which I think was expected, but the test is August and beyond in terms of how the economy bounces back. But this is really huge, today.”

Bill Addy, chief executive of Liverpool BID Company, which represents 1,500 businesses in the city centre said the retail and hospitality sectors have been among some of the hardest hit in the economic shock caused by coronavirus and welcomed the extra support.

In May he backed the national #RaisetheBar which warned that as many as 54,000 hospitality and retail businesses across the UK were at risk of going to the wall amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

Following the Chancellor’s statement, Mr Addy, who is also chair of the Liverpool Visitor Economy Network, said: “The businesses we work with have been reopening slowly, with a commitment to public health. The Eat Out to Help Out scheme is an added incentive for those who want to dine out safely on quieter evenings and help reactivate the sector.

“The cut to VAT to 5% will help people enjoy the city’s visitor economy for less and alleviate pressure on our visitor economy. Preserving jobs is going to be the cornerstone of any economic recovery in Liverpool, particularly those currently furloughed.

“The newly-announced measures to help businesses retain employees and to invest in younger workers will contribute to protect communities across the UK.  

“The road to recovery isn’t going to have any shortcuts so we’ll need to continue to work together to encourage confidence, support businesses and rebuild our city in a way that’s safe and welcoming.”

Neil Sturmey, senior partner at accountancy firm Grant Thornton in Liverpool, said the hospitality aspect of the speech was of particular interest in Liverpool city region given the strength of its visitor economy.

He said: “The Chancellor made some significant announcements to try to recharge the UK’s hospitality and tourism over the next few months, which will be very welcome in our region.

“Large parts of these sectors were already under significant pressure pre lock-down due to high levels of competition, rent and rates, and rising wage and food costs. Therefore, any support from government must be welcomed by the sector. These measures sit alongside the critical support for arts institutions which are central to what places such as Liverpool and Chester have to offer.”