While the Red Lion pub is just across the street from Downing Street boasts a steady trade with politicians, the namesake pubs throughout Britain are suffering from the mixed messages and pandemic from No 10.
After Boris Johnson urged people to ‘think carefully’ before venturing out over the festive break, a snapshot poll of Red Lion pubs by The Mail On Sunday found 90 per cent had seen Christmas takings fall compared with 2019.
A third of Red Lion pubs said it was ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ they would have to shut down permanently if a new lockdown is imposed in the New Year.
Landlady Jenne Mason Marper in her pub, the Red Lion Inn Litton (Dereshireshire).
A fifth said they would have to shut if the ‘rule of six’ returns, limiting gatherings to six people from two households.
Half of those surveyed reported festive sales falling by over 50% in comparison to levels before the pandemic. A fifth said that they saw trade declines up to 75%.
Nine in ten Red Lions stated that booking cancellations had occurred, while two-thirds lost as much as half their tables.
‘Our trade has just died a death because people have been too nervous to go out and celebrate over Christmas,’ said Jeanne Mason-Marper, who runs the Red Lion in Litton, Derbyshire.
‘Things are worse now than they were when we reopened after the last lockdown.’
Last month the Government announced new grants of £2,700 to £6,000 to help pubs, but the average UK venue lost £10,000 in the week before Christmas alone, according to industry body UK Hospitality.
Red Lion, across the street at Downing Street (pictured), can boast a lively trade from politicians
Chris East, who runs Ye Olde Red Lion in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, in East Yorkshire, said: ‘We get a grant of £2,700 which just about covers our wage bill for one week. We would have been better off being closed down altogether.’
Greg Mulholland, director of the Campaign For Pubs, warned that pubs were ‘drowning in debt’.
In our survey of 33 pubs, landlords were split on the Government’s support package, with 39 per cent rating it ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ and 37 per cent ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
A Treasury spokesman said: ‘We’ve supported people’s jobs and incomes throughout the pandemic through our £400 billion package of support, and will continue to do so through our additional £1 billion support package for the hospitality and leisure sector.’