Night Time Economy Adviser for Manchester Sacha Lord has launched legal action against the government over the impact of the measures on hospitality.
He says only 3% of infections last week were connected to the night time economy.
“We have been given no tangible scientific evidence to merit a full closure of hospitality and entertainment sectors and have been left with no option than to escalate the matter with legal action.“
Lord told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that it is “far safer, in our opinion” to go to a pub where there are restrictive measures in place, rather than people ending up at house parties.
He added: “Whoever’s making these knee-jerk decisions in the Government are not dealing with operators because we saw what happened with the curfew and, by leaking that news that came out on Wednesday, what do you think happened in the city centres across the UK this weekend? On Saturday night it was like New Year’s Eve.”
Doing the media rounds this morning the Culture Secretary insisted that there is “academic evidence” to show there is “quite a high risk associated with hospitality settings”
However the head of UK Hospitality Kate Nichols believe the academic evidence. American study cited looked at the behaviour of 154 patients who had tested +ve and 160 symptomatic patients testing -ve.
American restaurants were allowed to reopen with no federal or state regulations on social distancing, ventilation and hygiene – unlike UK counterparts
