Restaurant suffers 1700 cancellations since latest Covid guidance

A restaurant has called for help and support after suffering over 1600 cancellations following the latest coronavirus guidance from the Scottish Government.

DINE Edinburgh revealed they have suffered 1681 cancellations at one location alone after the government advised the public to stay at home and limit their social gatherings due to rising cases of Omicron.

The brasserie chain, which has two restaurants in Edinburgh, has appealed for more help and support to be granted to the hospitality sector.

Speaking out on social media, the restaurant wrote: “Definitely ‘not’ the most wonderful time of the year! Currently 1,681 cancellations.

“The hospitality sector needs your help and immediate support, most small businesses depend upon a busy December just to survive the quieter Jan – March months!”

Leah Renton, 36, who is assistant manager at DINE group, said: “So since the start of November and December we’ve been full every day.

“Since the news about the new Omnicrom variant came to light we’ve experienced nearly 1700 cancellations just at one restaurant.

“That translates to around £75,000.

“It has a huge knock-on effect to our business and our staff, it’s completely damaging.

“Every hospitality venue relies on this festive period, as people tend to not go out in January.

“I understand people’s panic, and I do understand why they would cancel.

“We are just looking for clearer guidance from the government.

“We need clearer guidelines and if we had mandatory laws people would be more guided.

“It would make our lives easier if we could plan ahead, as right now it’s a guessing game.

“We don’t want to put up the barrier of deposits for bookings, but the way things are going with the amount of people that are cancelling it’s something that we might have to look at.”