‘Having to close would be a disaster’: Omicron is ominous for hospitality
The Parkers Arms in rural Lancashire is freezing cold and cannot take bookings over the phone, at least for now. Four days ago, Storm Arwen took out the power lines and telephone wires linking this rural Lancashire gastropub to the outside world.
Its ever-optimistic proprietor, Stosie Madi, expects normal service to resume by the weekend at the pub in Newton-in-Bowland. But now – like the rest of the hospitality sector – she has a new worry on her mind: the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
“We’re fully booked for the Christmas season and we’re quite pleased with that but we’ve had some cancellations come through,” she says, adding that the bulk came on Sunday after Boris Johnson announced tighter rules in response to the variant.
She worries fresh
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