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By Paul Sandle and Phil Noble
LIVERPOOL, England, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The last pints could
be pulled in pubs across northern England this week as furious
bosses warn new coronavirus restrictions will wipe out their
businesses which are already reeling from a national lockdown
earlier this year.
With cases of COVID-19 surging and hospital admissions
rocketing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday
unveiled a new three-tier system of local lockdowns to curb its
spread, with pubs and bars closed down in "very high" alert
areas.
Liverpool, birthplace of the Beatles and famed for its
soccer team, the current Premier League champions, and its
surrounding region will be the first to be placed in the highest
alert tier, meaning its drinking establishments face closure
from Wednesday.
Pub managers there reacted with disbelief and anger that
their city and their businesses were being singled out.
"My biggest worry as a boss and a licensee is my business
will have to close again and we may very well not come open next
time because there's no funds in the pot from last time," said
Frances Burleigh, landlady of The Beehive pub in Liverpool city
centre.
"The last lockdown I lost 6,500 pounds ($8,490) on beer
alone and 3,500 on food and I'll not survive that this time."
The infection rate in northwest England has been soaring in
recent weeks, and in Liverpool stands at just under 600 cases
per 100,000 people. Health chiefs say action is vital now to
prevent the hospitals being overrun and a rise in deaths.
MERSEYSIDE MONEY
While local leaders say they support lockdown measures, they
have demanded that the government pump more money into helping
the hospitality industry and others affected by the forced
closures, arguing that measures announced by finance minister
Rishi Sunak last week did not go far enough.
Sunak said the government would pay up to two-thirds of
employees' salaries, capped at 2,100 pounds ($2,725) a month
each, if they worked for companies that are forced to close
temporarily.
Karen Strickland, landlady of The Grapes pub, said their
income was already down by 70% with the current enforced
nationwide closing time of 10 p.m., and the government's support
scheme help was not enough.
"It's absolutely horrendous. My staff, some of them still
haven't come back to work yet, their job's just not here for
them," she said, adding it made no sense to single out pubs.
"If they are going to close our pubs it's not going to make
any difference because they're all going to have house parties,
people will still drink, people will still socialise," she told
Reuters. "At least in the pubs we did what the government wants.
If anywhere's safe, it in a pub."
It was not immediately clear how the government would define
pubs, given that many of them serve food and act as restaurants.
With local lockdowns so far focused on northern England,
despite cases rising in areas in the south of the country,
Johnson has faced accusations of targeting areas that
traditionally feel ignored by the central government in London.
"I think it's been handled abysmally, to be perfectly
honest," Strickland said. "It feels like they are penalising the
north again."
($1 = 0.7656 pounds)
(Writing by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and
Gareth Jones)
