Council chiefs at City Hall have reopened the system which allows bars, clubs and restaurants in Bristol to apply for a lifeline Government Covid grant, after Bristol Live highlighted the fury of the city's hospitality industry that it had closed.
Yesterday, representatives from BARBI, Bristol's independent bar and restaurant association, told Bristol Live of their fury that while business owners right across the country could still apply for the Government's Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant, in Bristol, council chiefs had closed the window for applications on February 14.
The grants are potentially worth a valuable £10,000 to cover lost trade over Christmas and New Year when the Omicron wave of Covid devastated the hospitality industry, but Brendan Murphy, the co-founder of BARBI, said the council's handling of the applications was 'a shambles'.
