º£½ÇÊÓÆµ

Oops.

Our website is temporarily unavailable in your location.

We are working hard to get it back online.

PRIVACY
Enterprise

Birmingham business review of the year - Part 3: Restaurant owners fight back and goodbye to John Lewis

The third quarter of 2020 saw retailers and hospitality venues reawakened post-lockdown but it was not all plain sailing for some as the John Lewis announced its huge department store would remain closed

John Lewis announced over the summer that it did not plan to reopen its store in Birmingham(Image: Graham Young)

Quarter three started with the news of the devastating impact no shows were having on restaurants in the city after the Government started to ease lockdown restrictions.

Jaimon George, a director at Thai restaurant Zen Metro, said there were 115 bookings in the diary for a Saturday in July but 31 of those did not honour their reservation.

His comments were made as a new national campaign called No More No Shows gathered momentum as restaurants and pubs struggled to battle back against the impact of covid-19 after they were allowed to reopen on July 4.

"This level of no-shows are just not acceptable and financially viable for any businesses," Mr George said.

Jaimon George from Zen Metro warned of the dangers of no shows to restaurants(Image: Courtesy of ZEN Metro)

There was another hammer blow to the city's already struggling retail sector when John Lewis announced it would not be reopening its giant store above New Street station.

It was one of eight sites across the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ, including an At Home branch in Tamworth, which was to stay permanently closed.

Shops across the country had been allowed to reopen on June 15 but the four-floor John Lewis above New Street station remained closed.

Birmingham Business - Review of the Year 2020

Surf and watersports fans received a boost when North Warwickshire planners backed the development of a £25 million surf park.