This year has been without a doubt the most challenging and disappointing year for the whole of the hospitality industry, in and out of lockdowns and venue closures putting so many businesses at risk.
Here in Liverpool, we’re all doing our part to get the City back on its feet, now in Tier 2, we can finally start trading again. We have highlighted some of the businesses that are providing their support to Liverpool's hospitality industry during Covid-19.
LIDS is an online delivery service for the independent retailers of Liverpool, supporting local businesses. This has been a brilliant success during Covid-19 as it has meant that it has kept the hospitality sector moving, with so many customers able to continue to buy from a range of retailers across the City.
Chef Dave Critchley, creator of LIDS has also got a strong history of being involved in the working process for food banks with this year showing its importance more than ever, LIDS has been able to provide a lifeline to so many people in need especially during the era Covid-19.
Liverpool BID (Business Improvement District) is a private non-profit organisation, committed to working together to ensure that the area improves whilst providing the best possible trading and working environment for the occupiers.
During 2020, Covid-19 had hit not only the hospitality industry hard, but small businesses and the self-employed sector in the hospitality and leisure industry were massively affected with so many being excluded from government Covid-19 support.
Liverpool’s Covid-19 Discretionary Business Grants Scheme was brought in to target exactly that, supporting those businesses that fall into that criteria and suffered a significant fall in income due the Covid-19 crisis and supporting any ongoing costs to support with loss of earnings.
The guys over at Independent Liverpool have always done an incredible job of highlighting small independent businesses in town and giving them great exposure to their wide range of active readers.
During the Covid-19 crisis, they have done a brilliant job of supporting Liverpool’s iconic culture and keeping businesses in the City open with constant updates across their network in and out of lockdowns, as well as offering exclusive discounts for restaurants through their Independent Liverpool app at £2 a month.
The Guide Liverpool has always been there for the community of the City, keeping residents and tourists up to date with what's happening in Liverpool. From important news updates, travel during the pandemic to closures, deliveries and reopen dates of all in the City’s hospitality industry. It has been a great platform to raise awareness and bring everyone together in support to get Liverpool back on its feet!
Let's not forget about the people running the city.
The Liverpool city council has done a lot in recent months to further support the hospitality sector coming out of lockdown for the second time around. The government has provided various support schemes for the industry but it has left out crucial businesses in particular wet-led pubs and small retailers of goods.
In response to this, a £40 million emergency support grant for The Hospitality, Leisure and Retail sectors was created to support small businesses who have been left out of government support schemes. Spanning across the entire Liverpool city-region (covering the local authority areas of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral).
This was one of the first grants of its kind and has helped support 100s of businesses across the city in this crucial recovery period.
With all these incredible efforts from local businesses in the City we wanted to get involved and show our part, we’re excited to announce that we have currently launched our ‘Hopsy to Help out’ campaign which offers Hopsy free to all hospitality businesses in Liverpool for 3 months.
Brought in to help with the effect and changes Covid-19 has brought into the hospitality industry, as well as being a great all-around tool to minimise the workload and manage your business completely online.
**Do you know of anyone giving support to Liverpool’s hospitality industry? **Give us a tip so we can get them featured and spread the word, let's get our City back on top! Email us: info@hopsy.co.uk
