Drinks giant Diageo, maker of Guinness has launched a £80 million programme to help pubs across the world to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
The two-year programme called ‘Raising the Bar’ is to start next month to be introduced across hospitality sectors globally.
Guinness fund pub reopening
In the UK and Ireland, the programme will be available to pubs and bars in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh.
A global survey of pub and bar owners by Diageo found that the top priorities for venues reopening after lockdown were safety measures especially hygiene, digital support and practical equipment to transform how their outlets will work through the Covid-19 crisis.
In the UK, Diageo will provide funding for “hygiene kits” with permanent sanitiser dispensers, medical grade hand sanitiser and a range of personal protection equipment such as masks and gloves.
At the onset of Covid-19 in the UK, Diageo were one of the first to action donating ethyl alcohol to create eight million bottles of hand sanitiser. This latest move goes to the heart of helping their core customer base when they need it most.
The programme will also help pubs and bars to establish partnerships with online reservation and cashless payment systems to help maintain social distancing measures and funding for mobile bars and outdoor equipment.
Diageo is now urging governments around the world to “provide long-term recovery packages to help the hospitality sector” and highlighted the “millions of jobs” at risk.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday confirmed that pubs and other leisure businesses can reopen from 4 July.
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said repeatedly that publicans on reopening will need to take the details of all pub-goers as part of contact tracing measures. This measure has come under criticism with many including pub group Marston’s CEO saying he thought the proposals were “bonkers.”
Boris Johnson emphasised some new measures of the Government’s guidelines for reopening including check-in systems for pubs – avoiding face-to-face seating – improving ventilation – installing protective screens- providing hand sanitiser – toilet traffic lights and changing shift patterns to limit the number of staff that overlap.
Ivan Menezes, chief executive of Diageo said: “Pubs and bars sit at the heart of every community. We have launched ‘Raising the Bar’ as so many outlets have been impacted by this crisis and badly need help to open their doors again.
“We are calling on governments around the world to provide long-term recovery packages to help the hospitality sector. These businesses play an essential role in bringing people together to socialise and celebrate — something that we have all missed so much during this terrible crisis — and sustain hundreds of millions of jobs, which provide a first foot on the employment ladder for young people.”
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Guinness fund pub reopening – Guinness launch £80m fund helping pubs to reopen safely – 25 June 2020