UK's hospitality sector sounds alarm on jobs amid curfew

LONDON (AP) — The U.K.'s pubs and restaurants could see well over 500,000 job losses by the end of 2020 as a result of new coronavirus restrictions, including the requirement they shut their doors at 10 p.m., the head of the hospitality sector's main lobby group warned Tuesday.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, told lawmakers that the combination of the curfew, local lockdown restrictions and a downturn in customer confidence has hit pubs and restaurants in recent weeks.

She urged the government to provide more support to companies hit particularly hard by the recent uptick in virus cases and the ensuing restrictions.

She said research conducted by the group a couple of weeks ago had pointed to the loss of around 560,000 jobs by the end of the year, but a big drop in business since then will likely push that number up.

“We are doing that data again but we anticipate it will be far higher due to local restrictions, the national constraints on events, working from home and the curfew,” she said.

As elsewhere in Europe, curbs on everyday life have been reimposed in the U.K. following a spike in new coronavirus infections. On top of national restrictions, there are many local measures, largely relating to the number of people allowed to gather.

Since the 10 p.m. curfew was announced last month, many within the sector have argued that it's counterproductive as people just leave to congregate at someone's home, where social distancing guidelines are likely to be observed less carefully.

Many lawmakers and politicians, including the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, have urged a review, though that is considered unlikely.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs in hospitality have been protected during the pandemic as a result of the Job Retention...