Edinburgh’s hospitality industry is in crisis as coronavirus keeps people indoors and away from pubs, clubs, cafes, bars and restaurants.
Several Edinburgh pubs announced they were closing this afternoon (Wednesday March 18) hot on the heels of an announcement by restaurant Hawksmoor that it was shutting its doors and laying off staff.
Bow Bar, Cloisters Bar and the Stockbridge Tap all said they would be closed to the public until further notice, an announcement from Bow Bar read: “We are saddened and sorry to say that as of today we, Cloisters Bar and the Stockbridge Tap are now closed.
“We have no choice in the matter, we are all in this together and have to do our part. Including myself, we have four staff members in isolation so can not even run the place.”
Other pubs that have closed due to the coronavirus are:
Edinburgh businesses have taken to Twitter to ask for help and berate PM Boris Johnson ,who stopped short of ordering hospitality businesses to close - which would allow them to claim insurance payments - instead advising the public to avoid them.
Below we have collected tweets from the city’s bar workers, restaurant staff and taxi drivers to bring you their take on how the crisis is affecting them.
And they are, with disastrous results for Edinburgh companies.
“It already is affecting,” said Twitter user Anne, “down to January levels of turnover. If people want pubs and restaurants to be there when this is over they need support.”
The Little Chartroom restaurant, a Leith Walk favourite, posted an insightful thread about the government’s reaction – only a small part is reproduced below, but they captured the mood of many hospitality workers when they said:
“It feels like we as an industry have been hung out to dry, the public told to stay away but we’ve not been told to shut down.
“What do we do?! We still have staff, rent and bills to pay."
East Pizzas in Leith announced they were closing saying “we hope this will be very temporary”, and reminded customers their Morningside store would remain open.
One group that has been overlooked in discussions of support for businesses are taxi drivers.
Scott Craggi tweeted “Seven hours in the taxi last night, £26. Soul destroying”.
Meanwhile other taxi drivers are looking to diversify to survive – several schemes have seen restaurants partner with taxi drivers to deliver food to customers at home, helping both businesses stay open.
But that hasn’t stopped drivers wanting to help to. Central Taxis Edinburgh tweeted: “Anyone looking for assistance with transportation be it food, shopping, medication or people welcome to get in touch to see how we can assist.”
As the pandemic continues to spread and the governments promise of support fails to impact the on the losses of small businesses in Edinburgh it is up to business to adapt in any way they can.
It also falls to the people of Edinburgh figure out ways to support the businesses they love, while making sure they keep themselves safe and healthy.
One option suggested by several cafes and restaurants is buying a gift certificate from them to use after the pandemic is over.
However, even with the best efforts of businesses and customers, the future of many much-loved Edinburgh institutions has never been so uncertain.
