As we know the hospitality industry suffered badly during the COVID-19 pandemic though there’s little doubt that a number of government measures saved many businesses which would have otherwise gone to the wall. But eventually business appeared to have returned to normal. Then the omicron variant originating in South Africa, more rapidly spreading it appeared than the then dominant delta subtype which had spread out from India, turned up. Right into early December the hospitality industry seemed to be holding up and diners were turning up happily to their favourite restaurants - there was quite a wait for reservation dates at some favourite establishments - and then Professor Christopher Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical adviser to the government, spoke out about the potential dangers of the new variant and almost overnight restaurants experienced large numbers of reservation cancellations and the vital pre-Christmas trade took a spectacular hit.
The situation was not helped by large numbers of restaurant workers actually contracting the condition and their employers being unable to staff their restaurants adequately. Thus on 21 December Purnell’s announced that it would be closing early pre-Christmas saying, “Due to current circumstances we don’t have enough staff required to provide the high standard of service that we consistently deliver at Purnell’s”. Clearly this represented a significant financial loss for the restaurant but as the restaurant was planning to close for its Christmas break on 23 December in any case, one supposes that matters could have been even worse.
By 23 December early studies of the effects of the omicron variant were suggesting that it may very well cause a less clinically severe illness than the variants which had gone before and it was becoming reasonable to hope that the renewed threat to the hospitality industry might be short-lived and not as severe as the doom-laden professor was suggesting it might be.
It was reported on 18 December that the Stoke-on-Trent native, Niall Keating, Executive chef at the Michelin starred Whateley Manor in Wiltshire, will leave his job at the end of December presumably to concentrate on his new restaurant, Lunar, which opened in November in the World of Wedgwood visitor attraction at Barlaston as well as other projects. It is excellent to find another accomplished West Midlands chef returning to his roots and further adding to the gastronomic wonders in the region. Which reminds me that I must get up to Stoke in the new year to visit Lunar.
Posted on the Michelin Guide Twitter account today (23 December) is a reference to a Michelin inspector’s visit to Upstairs by Tom Shepherd in Lichfield (see Blogs 188 and 194) which is the second time in a period of a few weeks (last reported 12 November 2021 - see Blog 193). I have the feeling that the West Midlands may well have a new starred restaurant when the 2022 Guide is published and rightly so.
No comments:
Post a Comment