Lockdown Two by Alistair Scott

6th November 2020

Lockdown two by Alastair Scott
I find the psychology of the second lockdown fascinating. In the first lockdown everyone was scared and wanted to follow government advice, this lockdown is different with bookings for the next few days up to closure way up on last week as people want to go to the pub for the last time before staying at home for a month. I suspect, or hope, therefore that when we open up again it will be with immediate pent-up demand rather than the rather timid excursions after lockdown number one.

As operators, last time we closed without a furlough scheme (or maybe there was but I didn’t notice because I was already drowning my sorrows), whereas now we have a scheme that we understand; we also have an end date (probably) for the closure period. The furlough scheme also allows us to furlough on a part-time basis, so this time we can do takeaways and any other activities where we only need our team occasionally. So, we have more tools and flexibility with which to minimise our losses.