Home Grown CEO calls for curfew exemption for rural hotels

CEO of Home Grown Hotels, Robin Hutson, revealed he has written to No.10 on behalf of rural hospitality businesses, seeking “immediate exemption” from the new curfew restrictions announced yesterday.

The government brought in new restrictions yesterday which will require pubs, restaurants and hospitality venues to close at 10pm, beginning on Thursday (24 September).

However taking to Twitter the hotel owner said “well managed hospitality is not the problem.”

I have just written to No.10 asking for immediate exemption -hotel residents dining in hotel restaurants and small restaurants with less than 100 cvts. I know there are many others that need help but this is to give a voice to #ruralhospitality and small businesses. @UKHofficial

— Robin Hutson (@RobinHutson) September 23, 2020

Hutson, who owns seven Pig Hotels and Limewood Hotel, added that “in spite of millions of interactions” over the course of the last couple of months of resumed business, his venues had experienced “no Covid cases.”

Hutson’s tweets were met with similar views from other hospitality leaders, with Joanne Taylor-Stagg, general manager at The Athenaeum, and Craig Bancroft, managing director at Northcote both writing that they agreed with Hutson’s insistence on the safety of “well-operated” hospitality.

Hutson concluded: “I wonder how many hotels in the UK have encountered any infections?” He then tagged UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls, asking if the organisation could provide any substantive data.

It comes as UKHospitality has called for a “package of targeted support for the industry to help it cope with further measures which restrict trade and hamper viability, as well as for clarity on the detail of the additional restrictions imposed on hospitality today.”