‘Substantial meal’: substantial enough for pubs to survive?
As the UK moves out of lockdown and a regional tier system is introduced, pubs in tier two are forced into a difficult middle ground, and the question arises are they better off closed?
Image by Emily Latimer
From 2nd December, pubs in all but three council areas will either be closed or only able to open if they are serving substantial meals, the government announced on Thursday.
The government’s winter plan defines a substantial meal as “a full breakfast, main lunchtime or evening meal”.
For tier two, the news will be of little comfort to ‘wet led’ pubs, which are forced to remain closed and for those who do serve food, the restriction places them in a challenging position, in which they can open but are only able to make a fraction of their sales.
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