With pessimistic surveys and forecasts for the hospitality sector which will surely be one of the last to emerge into the post lockdown economy how will the region survive and adapt to the new normal in an Industry that is so important to the economy in Greater Manchester.

Who better to ask than Greater Manchester’s nighttime economy adviser and co-creator of the Parklife festival and The Warehouse Project, Sacha Lord who also gives us a little exclusive concerning United We Stream.

“I’m trying to imagine the first Warehouse Project when people walk through those doors and they haven’t seen their friends for months, the emotions will be so high.” says Sacha Lord as we spoke last week.

It’s probably a long way off and there will be many hurdles to overcome in the next few months.So before we get to that, what of an industry that Sacha had already said prior to this crisis was propping our failing High Streets. Being an Alty lad, he uses Altrincham as a prime example, once one of the most boarded up town centres which had been revitalised to such an extent that it would win High Street of the year.”That, says Sacha, “puts even more emphasis on the importance of the night time economy coming back stronger”

We are eight weeks into the lock-down when we talk and he remembers a statistic put around at the start that after four weeks, seventy per cent of the industry will have run out of cash.

“I’m a very positive person but unfortunately we are going to see quite a lot of closures.”

One of the dangers is that it will be the Independents that will suffer the most, leaving the streets full of the national brands-“I hope not he says…before this we were seeing some of the chains dying away.”

“Our City region is very resilient,he remembers post 1996 when the City Centre came back much bolder that it had ever been and attracted brands that we could never have dreamt of prior to that. The Independents that he knows are passionate and creative entrepreneurs and they will come back better

Three years ago this week the City came together to recover from the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena.And already we have seen examples of this resilience being shown again, Sacha quotes the example of Mary Ellen McTague at the Creameries in Chorlton who has been behind the initiative which at the end of last week had distributed fifty thousand meals across the region.

While he says the Government has done plenty to help hospitality, he was disappointed with last weeks fifty page document which he thinks failed to give any comfort and support for the industry.”it didn’t tell us anything at all that we didn’t already know.” Instead Greater Manchester have created its own nighttime economy task force which he co chairs along with Elise Wilson who is the region’s economy lead.One of its objectives will be to give more support and guidance to the industry and to lobby the Government extremely hard.

“People who work within the Nighttime Economy should be the ones who are leading in telling the Government what they need.We understand the business not the suits who walk around Westminster”

Social Distancing is here to stay certainly for the immediate future so how can the industry survive without the footfall that it needs to break even? The simple answer to that says Sacha is no-Restaurants work on tight margins of ten to fifteen per cent so being asked to open with a maximum capacity of fifty per cent means that they will be losing money from day one.

“this is where we need to work with the Government to support us right the way through to the end…Let’s continue furlough, lets continue the VAT holiday, lets look at reducing VAT on food and alcohol.They have to support our industry until we can get back to normal”

But of course it is just the economics but the experience-Will people for example want to book ahead to go for a casual drink or queue outside, will they want to sit two metres away from their colleagues and have we,or shall we as a nation discover a new way to entertain ourselves as the lock down continues?

It is an interesting question. Sacha says there are two camps, the 18-25 year olds who as soon as they are allowed to will flock back to the bars, and then there are the people who, we decided included ourselves,for whom it will take slightly longer to adapt.He thinks the adaption will take not months but weeks.People will be looking for signs of confidence, hand sanitisers on the tables, disposable menus.

“If I am honest,I think people can’t wait to get out…..and we are allowed to go out I think that our industry is going to be really well supported because people are seeing how hard it is.

There will be opportunities, linked with Andy Burnham’s Build Back better Campaign, we may see Boulevard style streets with pavement cafe’s in the Centre of Manchester.It will also be an opportunity to put right some of the wrongs in an industry whose in some cases suffer pay and conditions on a par with some of the heroes that we clap every Thursday at 8pm

Finally we couldn’t let Sasha go without talking about United we Stream, Greater Manchester’s Lock-down Initiative which sees its culture broadcast for free to the world while asking for donations to support the vulnerable. It has seen half a million viewers and has raised so far over £300,000.The idea was initially to end it with lockdown but in an exclusive which we can share with you

Allied London have donated a purpose built recording studio for the project for two years, and it will now continue as a legacy of this crisis and will become a platform for Manchester’s hidden creative talent.

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