“We’re going to have to wait until next week to see what impact it has on us” – Salford cafés react to the return of ‘work from home’ measures

Salford cafés have expressed uncertainty as to the effects of the reintroduction of the government’s ‘work from home’ advice this week.

In response to the rise in cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, the government has introduced their ‘plan B’, which includes asking all office workers across the country to go back to working at home if possible.

From 13 December in England, you should work from home if you can.

➡️ https://t.co/AJ1DZmrux2 pic.twitter.com/gc8vDboKla

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) December 8, 2021

The hospitality sector has been one of the hardest hit areas of society ever since the introduction of restrictions at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020: despite seeing an increase in revenue around May this year, the Office for National Statistics says that it still remains at less than 70% of what it was pre-pandemic.

Much like the rest of the North West, Salford and Greater Manchester have seen a massive economic impact of lockdown restrictions, with both higher unemployment rates and higher covid related deaths than those seen in the South.

As less people will be making the commute into work as a result of the new guidelines, some cafés and their staff on Salford Quays have commented on the possible impact that the return to these restrictions could bring to their profits.

At the Grindsmith, staff mentioned that the café was “definitely emptier this morning”, but commented that office workers don’t make up their entire customer base:

They said: “You’ve got all the offices, but we’ve still got all the regulars from the flats around here and the Van Gogh exhibition”

Just around the corner, Penelope’s Deli said it was still early days, and were unable to confidently say what impact it would have:

They commented: “Normally we’re quite on Mondays anyway and we do rely on the people in the offices.

“We’re going to have to wait until next week to see what kind of impact it has on us”

You can find more information on the new guidelines at the official government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do