The boss of three live music and dining venues has highlighted some of the big issues affecting the sector as it moves beyond the pandemic.
Mark Henderson, who co-owns the independent Bistro Live group with Fred Harlow, said in a normal year the business would have started taking Christmas bookings months ago.
But they are well behind previous years because of the time it took for Covid restrictions to lift earlier this year.
Mr Henderson said the business opened at about 70 per cent capacity back in the summer and the three venues – in Leicester, Nottingham and Milton Keynes with a combined capacity of about 900 people – are each running at about 200 people a night.
They offer three course meals followed by live music and DJs, with dancing on tables a big part of the night.
Generally speaking the venues are aimed at the 25-plus age range, and attract anything from hen parties to office outings, leaving dos and – crucially at this time of year – Christmas parties.
Recent data put together for the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership showed the local hospitality and tourism sectors had contracted by a quarter since the start of the pandemic – more than any other sector in Leicestershire – with losses of £310 million to the local economy.
The Bistro Live venues were shut for pretty much 500 days, and Mr Henderson previously told BusinessLive they even considered pulling the plug at one point.
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But despite a string of false starts only for Government plans to falter, they finally reopened the doors at the end of July.
Mr Henderson said: “We launch our Christmas programme in March, and would typically sell about 20 per cent of tickets by the end of July, but we have lost that early 20 per cent.
“We got through the reopening on the last weekend of July and are still looking forward to a busy Christmas.
“I guess the general overview would be that things are going OK, and it can be a bit of a struggle to get the numbers in – but once they are here they are partying and spending like never before.
“The ticket numbers are not where I wanted them to be though. I think people are still reluctant to get out and we are getting hit by last-minute reductions in party size with people getting Covid or isolating.
“That’s the pattern at the moment. We were thinking it would get better, but with Covid rates going up, it’s not. The thing is once people are here they have a brilliant time.”
He said the Leicester venue – which opened 20 years ago this November 3 – has 30 staff, with 20 in Nottingham and 27 in Milton Keynes. They are now looking for seasonal staff for the Christmas season.
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Mr Henderson said: “By Christmas we want to be at 80 per cent capacity and feedback from people who have been here like the fact that there’s extra space in the restaurant.
“Right now we are open Fridays and Saturdays from 7pm-1am, and at Christmas we will have a phased opening to seven nights a week.
“We’re a weekend business for most of the year and have been for the last 10 years, then go up to whatever we can get bookings for for Christmas, which starts in mid-November.
“Generally speaking I would say that, from a business point of view, things look like they are getting more back to normal in Leicester. The car parks have been getting busier and the city centre itself is starting to feel a bit more normal again.
“It’s been slow for hospitality, and the other thing that’s made it difficult for us has been the supply chain.
“The breweries have really struggled and every week when we go to order there is something else not available, which can be difficult when we have a lot of customers pre-ordering stuff.
“We have had to be creative and drive cases of beer between venues.
“We hear of other pubs that have completely run-out of stock.“
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