BUSINESSES in Dorset are today counting the cost of new restrictions which will shut restaurants and bars at 10pm and keep millions of workers at home.

Hospitality industry figures have said the curfew taking effect tomorrow will have a catastrophic effect on the sector unless there is more government help.

Mark Cribb, founder of Bournemouth’s Urban Guild restaurant and hotel group, said he was busy cancelling reservations for second sittings over the coming days.

“I’ve got probably 150 people that I need to move this weekend, across the group. If they had even given us until Monday, it would have helped,” he said.

He said hospitality businesses were being punished when they accounted for only four per cent of infections.

“The government are piling the pressure on the hospitality industry when we’re already on our knees,” he said.

“I feel for my peers in hospitality, who employ three million people across the country.”

Andy Lennox, who founded the Zim Braai restaurants in Bournemouth and Poole and previously co-founded Koh Thai, set up the group Wonky Table, which has been lobbying for the hospitality trade during the Covid crisis.

He said the events sector and the night time economy would be hardest hit. “We will do our civic duty in the restaurant industry and the hospitality industry. We will pivot and weave to make sure we survive as best we can,” he added.

He said the sector would need more government aid. “Eat Out to Help Out will have to return at some point or VAT will have to stay at five per cent for good,” he added.

Matt Kearsey, managing director of Blandford-based brewer Hall & Woodhouse, said: “Since re-opening our managed houses, we have implemented COVID-19 Secure guidelines well beyond minimum requirements. We already operate with full table service, table bookings of no more than six people, and with tables positioned at two-metre distance or more.

“We continue to closely follow the guidance given by the government and Public Health England and we will adhere to any new enforced restrictions to ensure our pubs continue to be a safe place for our guests to enjoy.”

Ian Girling, chief executive of Dorset Chamber, said: “The new measures will be a concern for some sectors of business but clearly action needed to be taken to get to grips with the escalation of the virus.

“Some hospitality businesses will undoubtedly be disappointed and the guidance on homeworking is a major change just when employees were returning to the office.

“We must not hide away from the fact that a return to homeworking will not be easy for some employers and employees.

“Some roles are suited to homeworking while others are not. There is productivity to consider, and it may be problematic from a HR management perspective as well as for those people who do not have ideal homeworking conditions.

“Many businesses have already carried out a huge amount of work to make their offices Covid-safe and now face implementing fresh working practices.

“There will be an economic impact from the new measures but the government is in a high-stakes balancing act and a full national lockdown is the very last thing anyone wants.”