Covid Surge Puts Europe’s Restaurant Revival in Peril
New restrictions are hitting just as the dining scene was beginning to welcome back customers.
The restaurant industry in Europe and the U.K. had a near-death experience in the spring and summer. In fact, many establishments—including posh spots like The Ledbury and Le Caprice in London—didn’t make it through. Government subsidies and job retention programs helped keep much of the rest alive. However, as restrictions are reimposed to tamp down a severe surge of Covid-19, the nightmare may be recurring—just when many places had tentatively figured out how to welcome back customers.
In the U.K., daily infections stood at nearly 20,000 on Oct. 14, compared with less than 400 on a day in early July, about the time the first full lockdown ended. The government has now selectively imposed different tiers of lockdowns throughout the country. London is now in Tier 2: Restaurants aren’t allowed to accept groups of customers from more than one household—and each group can only be a maximum of six people.