Pubs and restaurants lose Christmas party bookings

RESTAURANTS and pubs in the Henley area have experienced a surge in cancellations due to the new coronavirus variant.

Omicron was first reported in the UK at the end of November and is spreading rapidly, so the Government has tightened restrictions.

Hospitality venues have lost trade as customers cancel bookings or simply do not show up.

Fabio Terrinoni, who owns Villa Marina in Thames Side, said many people were frightened of catching the virus.

“We have seen lots of people cancel,” he said. “From Saturday to Tuesday I’ve had at least five parties cancel because somebody needs to isolate or they are scared to come out as the restaurant is an enclosed environment.

“People are also asking us what we can do to protect guests from the new variant but what can we do? I still have the tables spaced out but I can’t open windows because people would be cold.

“We’ve been here for a long time and we have regulars but unfortunately a lot of people won’t get behind the business during this difficult period. Christmas is usually very busy for us but unfortunately there’s nothing we can do. A lot of people will go bust and we have to try to survive. We just want to get back to a normal life free of covid.”

Jo-Anne Wornham, who co-owns Shellfish Cow in Reading Road, said the restaurant had seen about half of its bookings cancelled.

She said: “We’ve definitely noticed a change in attitude and we’re a lot quieter than we had hoped. People were just beginning to get their confidence back but as soon as the announcement about Omicron was made we saw a lot of cancellations.

“We’ve had a lot of no-shows as well, which is disappointing when we have staff in. If people call to cancel at least we’re not left waiting and wondering. We have to man up and realise that December won’t be what we wanted or hoped for and keep our fingers crossed for New Year.”

Tom Davies, chief executive of Henley pub company Brakspear, said pubs had experienced cancellations, mostly larger group bookings.

He said: “The great thing with pubs is that we can host smaller groups rather than a large Christmas party. It won’t be the great Christmas which we were hoping for but as it stands, it won’t be disastrous.

“We’re still being looked after by the Government but what we need is confidence and our customers need confidence to come in. We work in a safe environment and it’s generally a safe place to go and socialise but I think people are terrified by the media when it’s only a mild variant.”

Ryan Simpson-Trotman, who co-owns Orwells in Shiplake Row with his husband Liam, said it was “heartbreaking” to see hospitality venues suffer.

“People are getting scared and it’s going to have a big impact,” he said. “We’re quite lucky as we’re more of a destination place and people need to travel to get here whereas town centre places can’t get the income as no one is passing by now. No-shows aren’t really an issue with us as we have a 48-hour cancellation policy in place and if you don’t cancel it can cost £50 per head. Recently, we were expecting about 30 to 40 people and only got 15, so we need a cancellation policy.”

Damien Davenport, manager of Hotel du Vin in New Street, said: “In the hotel we’ve had cancellations but not really in the restaurant.

“We did have only one bedroom available last week but now we have more due to the cancellations but we’re busy in the restaurant and we have no cancellations for Christmas Day at the moment.

“As we’re quite close to Heathrow Airport, a lot of people travelling stay here but because you need to self-isolate people won’t travel and that impacts the hotel.”

Alastair Heathcote, general manager at Leander Club in Henley, said the club had seen about 20 per cent of bookings cancelled.

“We don’t have a huge amount of Christmas bookings anyway and it’s going to be very quiet in January so we just need to get through the next few weeks,” he said.