Warehouse Project and Parklife boss Sacha Lord is launching a city-wide happy hour at venues across Manchester this summer. Manchester’s night time economy advisor to Mayor Andy Burnham is hoping that the plan, called the ‘Hospitality Hour’, will help to fill venues across the region’s 10 boroughs by offering an hour of free drinks.
He’s also wanting to thank the people of the city for their continuing support of the hospitality business over the tough times of the pandemic. The first Hospitality Hour is set to take place at the soon-to-opened Adelphi Lads Club in Salford this Sunday (June 26). The free drinks will flow from 5pm to 6pm.
Speaking about the plans, Lord said: “This is all about getting together and thanking the people of Greater Manchester for their support over the past two and a half years. As a city region, we suffered tougher restrictions than any other during the pandemic, and now with the difficult economic environment, our operators are once again at the precipice of closure.
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"It's about time I bought everyone a pint, and what better way than to launch a summer hospitality hour across our 10 boroughs. I'm looking forward to being at each one to personally thank landlords and staff and the punters who have kept our sector going."
The dates and locations of the next Hospitality Hours will be revealed by Lord on his Twitter feed through July and August. Lord has warned of significant problems set to face the hospitality industry over the coming months, with rising costs across the board from food and drink to energy prices.
He told the Manchester Evening News last month : “My phone is off the hook at the moment. The overall feeling, certainly from the independents, is that at least during lockdown one, there was support there, furlough, business rates relief, bounceback loans, but no one expected this,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “Sadly, it’s the operators in more deprived areas who are going to be hit hardest. The backstreet boozers and the community pubs.
“In Greater Manchester, there are 1806 ‘wet-led’ pubs, so pubs that don’t serve food, and the vast majority are in our most deprived areas, and obviously if you’ve got the choice of buying a pint, or eating and heating, I don’t blame people for having to make that choice.”
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