Shropshire Star comment: Looking forward to dishing up a brighter future
From fish and chip shops to gastro pubs, from restaurants serving the best local produce to those that have a Michelin star; our region has punched above its weight for more than a generation.
And yet since March, the hospitality sector has fallen quiet.
Restaurants that would have turned over thousands of pounds during the past two months have earned just a trickle of income. Some have run out of cash, others won’t be able to last until late summer and yet more will have to take on levels of debt that will make life uncomfortable for years to come.
The new normal that emerges later this year and into 2021 will bear little resemblance to what went before.
Like other sectors that have been critically exposed to the impact of Covid-19, it will sustain a disproportionately high number of redundancies and business failures.
Talented, hard-working individuals will leave the industry and those that remain will have to rebuild.
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Hope dies last, however, and already we see green shoots. Though restaurants still have no clear route map to reopening, other than a vague promise of July, a number have started to diversify by providing take-away, hampers, cook-alongs and more. Hospitality has long been one of the nation’s most creative industries and innovation remains the watchword.
Hospitality is not simply important to the economy. It is also important socially. Pubs and restaurants are where we congregate at weekends and for special occasions. Venues enable community cohesion and provide opportunities for improved mental health.
The chefs who have taken to social media to share recipes, to offer one-to-one advice, to provide video tutorials and more are helping to maintain morale. They are also reminding us that they will return just as soon as Covid-19 is done.
Those that can support restaurants are helping an industry to survive. A treat for the week provides chefs and restaurateurs with a financial lifeline, while also providing them with confidence for a brighter tomorrow.
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How fitting that today marks the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale. The British social reformer and founder of modern nursing came to prominence during the Crimean War, organising care for soldiers.
She continues to exert a huge influence. The hospitals built in a matter of days to house critically ill Covid-19 patients were named in her honour. And her pioneering spirit of empathy and care continue to resonate with us all.
Nursing is a vocation for many, rather than simply a job. Those who have put themselves on the front line during the past two months know only too well the risks. But like other emergency workers, they acknowledge such when they first sign up. Despite the tremendous strain under which they are placed, they are dedicated to helping others and to preserving life.
Florence Nightingale showed many how it should be done. No doubt she would be proud of the way in which caring professions have coped during the global pandemic. Modern day nurses and those associated with all aspects of health and care are showing the same self-sacrifice that Nightgale once did. They are the best of us through this crisis
