We have recently been chatting to Tim Wedgwood at South Lawn Hotel. I think most people will be aware and appreciative of all he and his team have done to support the community during this Corona Virus crisis.
Everything has been done with a smile and plenty of innovation, however it has certainly not been easy for him, which is reflected in his thoughts below:
"Hi David
We are completely gutted by the recent news that we have been placed in Tier 2 restrictions after Lockdown 2. Our Covid cases are extremely low in this area but we have been grouped in with Southampton where cases are relatively high. Along with every other hospitality business that falls within NFDC we did not expect this at all.
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Tim & Nikki
Owners of South Lawn Hotel
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We were so looking forward to reopening after Lockdown 2 and had a very busy few weeks of restaurant reservations. Pre-Christmas last year we had 4500 people through the hotel but of course are unable to benefit from our function suite this year. Prior to the announcement of us being in Tier 2 we still had over 1500 diners booked up to Christmas in The Cedar Tree Restaurant, all on tables of 6 or less in a Covid secure venue and to conform with the rule of 6.
Sadly Tier 2 does not allow for any more than 1 household to meet indoors and as a result we have had to cancel all our bookings in our restaurant that do not comply. After doing so we had less than 100 diners left to look after in the run up to Christmas!
The restrictions imposed on the rest of the country have also impacted the hotel. Anybody who was booked to stay with us that has tier 3 restrictions cannot travel to stay away overnight and this has resulted in the majority of our bedroom reservations cancelling in the lead up to Christmas.
We have also had to cancel our Christmas residential package and New Year celebrations this year because of the restrictions.
We want to do the right thing and we want to keep everyone safe, so sadly we have made the decision to close the hotel rooms and Cedar Tree Restaurant through to the new year when hopefully the virus restrictions may have sorted themselves out. This is absolutely devastating for us after the efforts we have made to keep going since the first lockdown back in March but we do feel it is absolutely necessary.
I genuinely think we would have made it through in Tier 1 but even a change at the review date will be too late to recover the bookings. You can't just keep turning a hotel on and off like a light bulb it takes time to prepare and build the bookings even in the short term. To add to the difficulties its the December trade that carries us through to Easter and I'm not sure Boris has considered how damaging his pre Christmas strategy is for hospitality. I am convinced we could have traded safely with less restrictions.
I'm not the only hotelier in this position but my worry is that many might not realise the impact trying to open will have on their sustainability. You are far better off loosing a couple of grand a week by staying shut, my wage bill to open the hotel is £9k a week alone and there is only so many cuts you can make when providing a full service of breakfast lunch and dinner.
On the plus side we are going to carry on delivering Bakery and Meals through to Christmas every day except Mondays and will even be delivering lunches on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Sunday 27th December.
Thankfully, deliveries are helping to pay the bills and furlough will help to support our team.
We can still take a bedroom booking for anybody who is visiting relatives in the lead up to Christmas (Excluding guests from Tier 3) and we have a grab and go breakfast for anyone staying on this basis. For the 5 days of Christmas that families can meet we are also going to make our rooms available to visiting relatives on a bed and breakfast basis but our restaurant and bar will remain closed.
We are very grateful for the support we have received from so many people in the village and are optimistic that we will come out of this in a strong position.
To make a reservation to stay at the hotel you will have to call the hotel direct as we have closed out for on line bookings. 01590 643911.
Roll on 2021!
With our best wishes
Tim, Nikki and all the team at South Lawn"-----------------------------------------------
Editors comments: Hopefully, we can all continue to support South Lawn and all of our other local businesses' now and into the future. They are finding time tough, but doing the best they can for all of us, and if we lost any of these services, it would take the heart out of the village.
To see South Lawn Hotel's latest Take Aways, Deliveries & Christmas Menu: please click here.
