A restaurant owner fearful he could lose his home has written an emotional open letter to the Prime Minister.
Peter and Elaine Kinsella's Catalan deli and tapas bar Lunya in Manchester has come under serious financial pressure since Boris Johnson told people to stay away from restaurants.
Mr Kinsella worries that a lack of custom could continue to hit his restaurant hard and leave him struggling to look after his family, The Manchester Evening News reported.
While Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledge some financial support earlier this week, Mr Kinsella fears it won't be enough.
He wrote: “I am crying (sometimes uncontrollably) writing this.
“I am terrified and so worried. Most of all, I am deeply ashamed. Ashamed that I don't have the time to be as worried about my 86 and 88-year-old parents, who are hugely at risk.
“Ashamed that I don't have the time to be as worried about Elaine, who has her second biopsy for thyroid cancer tomorrow.
“I know they are both out of control, but I have to express that. I have done everything I can think of to preserve our future ability to pay taxes (which we are so going to need) to keep 105 staff in employment, but it isn't enough.
“But I now need more time to be with, care for and think about my loved ones, without ever diminishing my determination to keep Lunya going.”
In his Tuesday statement Mr Sunak announced a financial support package which included grants of up to £25,000 for small hospitality operators.
An eye-watering £330bn would also be available in Government-backed loans.
Mr Kinsella argued it was 'a sacrifice too far to ask me to use a loan to pay [landlords] when I will lose my own house'.
He added that he had gladly paid £7.1 million in taxes since opening his first Lunya store ten years ago, while employing 105 people in the process.
They had never sought, nor expected any help from the Government, Mr Kinsella said, but that the Covid-19 pandemic was making it impossible to continue trading.
Though he then wrote that he would be accepting any loan on offer, knowing full-well he will struggle to repay it, the restaurant would not be using the loan to pay the landlord - who he described as ‘the richest man in Britain’.
He begged the PM to offer him and his wife some protection against losing their own home, saying that they needed it more than the banks.
Mr Kinsella’s touching plea has been widely shared since he posted it yesterday, reaching almost 6000 retweets at the time of writing and even being discussed in Westminster.
Lunya is closed for the time being.
You can buy vouchers to help their cash flow - and protect the wages of their 105 employees - here.
