Derbyshire hotel owner warns industry is 'on the cliff edge' despite new support package

Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced one-off grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help firms through the latest national lockdown.

But Steve Perez, who owns the Casa Hotel in Chesterfield and the Peak Edge Hotel in the Peak District, warned that it may not be enough to keep many small independent businesses from going under.

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Speaking on BBC Radio Sheffield, Mr Perez said he was confident his hotels would survive but feared many smaller firms would shut for good and be replaced by multi-nationals.

He said that while ‘on the face of it, it sounds great’ the new grants would not even cover the cost of keeping the electricity running for one month at the Casa Hotel while it remains shut.

He also spoke about how hard it was not just financially but mentally for all those who had been furloughed and were at home itching to get back to work.

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"It’s very, very difficult for the smaller businesses. I drove up to Woodseats the other day and you look at all the pubs and cafes all closed, and all the small businesses, and with every one of those businesses it's not just a shop front, there’s a family behind that and theyre on the breadline a lot of these people and it’s going to be very, very difficult for everyone,” he said.

“We’re on the cliff edge right now. Lots of businesses aren’t going to be able to survive this at all.

"The really sad thing is that a lot of big companies will take over, big multi-national companies will step in and instead of having the wonderful independent businesses and cafes, it will be Starbucks on every corner and that’s just what’s going to happen, I’m afraid.”

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Mr Perez called on the Government to give businesses a VAT cut and a rates rebate which would remain in place for the rest of the year, enabling businesses to better plan their cash flow and get through this crisis.