Hospitality set for a booming weekend as punters flock to pub gardens
London bookings are up 220 per cent this weekend, according to a hospitality bookings app, as pub gardens finally opened to customers on Monday.
Tripadvisor-owned TheFork, formerly known as Bookatable, has reported seeing more than double the number of bookings this weekend in comparison to the ‘Super Saturday’ weekend on the 4th and 5th of July last year.
“Bookings in London alone are rocketing, up 220 per cent for this weekend compared to the ‘Super Saturday’ weekend last year, when hospitality re-opened after the first lockdown,” UK managing director at TheFork, Patrick Hooykaas, said.
Booking across the rest of the country, bookings have surged 105 per cent, signalling a sigh of relief for the hospitality sector and socialites alike.
Despite the soaring bookings, the booming weekend may not be all it is cracked up to be as punters have been caught making bookings and not attending.
“The public appetite to get back to pubs and restaurants is impressive. However, a risk for restaurants right now is people simply not turning up,” Hooykaas, added. “‘No-shows’ will hinder post-Covid hospitality recovery.”
“The most expensive item to a restaurant manager is an empty table because it costs the same amount empty as it does full. Empty tables are also unlikely to be filled at such short notice, as the industry places greater emphasis on bookings over walk-ins in its post-Covid recovery.”
And while pubs may be ‘fully booked’ this weekend, a spokesperson for the British Beer and Pub Association noted that it is important to remember bookings are only allowed for outside space – if pubs have it.
With pub garden making up around 25 per cent of a pubs capacity, pubs need to be operating at around 80 per cent capacity to be truly ‘fully booked’, the spokesperson warned.