The government must give more financial support if venues cannot open indoors before May 17, says Merton Councillor Paul Kohler.
On Monday, the Prime Minister announced his plan to ease coronavirus measures in England, contingent on falling transmission rates and the continued success of the vaccine rollout.
Boris Johnson said outdoor venues like beer gardens could open from April 12, while indoor venues could resume events from May 17.
Cllr Paul Kohler, owner of cabaret bar CellarDoor, speaks to Wimbledon Times about the government's road map for the hospitality industry.
"The priority must be to protect the vulnerable and not overwhelm the NHS," he said.
"However, if pubs, bars and restaurant cannot open indoors before 17 May (at the earliest) the Chancellor must give us more financial assistance in the budget.
My bar, like many, will by then have been closed for over a year, with bills still arriving and debts mounting.
"Even with my staff on furlough this is unsustainable, and we must be given more financial support to survive."
"As a wet led bar forced to close throughout December, we received only an extra £1000 to compensate for not being able to trade in our busiest 3 weeks of the year!
"It is even worse for other businesses in the wider hospitality field, such as event firms, who received nothing from some local authorities including Merton, despite repeated government assurances to the contrary."
Mr Kohler added: "Many will not survive especially as the banks, in their usual selfish way, are now withdrawing overdrafts from those small businesses who took out a bounce back loan.
"We had a £10,000 overdraft which we never dipped into and yet HSBC withdrew it when we took out a bounce back loan to make social distancing modifications to the bar!
"We've now been forced to reapply with no certainty it will be restored."
Commenting on how it feels to have a possible reopening date, he added: "It helps, but there are no guarantees as the government have said none of the dates will be confirmed until the week before.
It is obvious that most of the Ministers in this government have never run a small business and have no idea of what is entailed in planning staff rotas, ordering and marketing with so little notice."
Speaking about the government's 'disastrous' curfew being scrapped in the latest road map, he said: "The curfew was always a stupid idea, resulting in everyone leaving socially distanced venues at the same time, simply to crowd onto non-socially distanced buses and tubes to go home.
"The decision not to renew the curfew is a grudging admission that on the curfew, as with so many things in the pandemic, this woefully incompetent government got it wrong."
MORE: Merton Councillor speaks on 'disastrous' 10 pm curfew
Mr Kohler went onto say that he doesn't understand why customers will be allowed inside shops, public transport, hairdressers and gyms before pubs, bars and restaurants.
There will be far more social distancing in my small bar on a Friday night than in my local Tescos on a Monday morning.
"Over 70% of pubs, bars and restaurants will not open in April if they can only serve outside.
"We will give it a go at CellarDoor and get our famous pink carpet and Drag Queens out on the street the moment we're allowed; but it will be tough going unless the weather is kind."
Has your business been affected by the pandemic? Tell us your experience by contacting monica.charsley@newsquest.co.uk.
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