A new raft of industrial action, particularly on the railways, this Christmas looks set to be hugely damaging to the hospitality sector when it needs to recoup sales.
Staff at National Rail who are members of the RMT will walk out on Christmas Eve and return on 27th December. Other RMT rail workers will go on strike on 13th, 14th, 16th, and 17th December. More walkouts are planned for 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th January.
UKHospitality chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “These further rail strikes will be hugely damaging for hospitality businesses, their workers, and their customers as it seems almost guaranteed that we will be facing a heavily disrupted Christmas for the third year in a row.
“Our estimate of the cost of these strikes already stood at £1.5 billion in lost sales, and it’s incredibly frustrating that a solution has yet to be reached to avoid this disruption during the golden month of trade for our sector.
“We’re continuing to urge all parties involved in the negotiations to reach a solution imminently to avoid these harmful strikes.”
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, added: “The week of the strikes is usually the busiest of the year for our industry, but instead of being able to trade normally for the first time in three years, pubs in towns and cities across the UK are now seeing swathes of people re-arranging Christmas parties and cancelling bookings, and news of further strikes from Christmas eve has only added to the dire situation.
“These were bookings our pubs desperately need. Covid was unbelievably tough, but what we’re facing now, with spiralling costs and people watching more and more what they’re spending, is hitting businesses even harder.
“Pubs really need this Christmas trade to see them through the quieter months that follow, especially after two years of restrictions, but now it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see how many will make it through until spring because December trade is being decimated. People aren’t confident they’ll be able to travel next week and so it’s almost too late now to save the festive season from ruin for pubs.”
