Market Halls, the company which operates three of the biggest food halls in the UK, has blamed social distancing for its current closure and a wave of redundancies.
The food hall operator, which had three sites in Fulham, Victoria and the former BHS building on Oxford Street in London said there was no viable path to reopening with social distancing rules in place and would begin the process of making all staff redundant, according to food news site Eater.
The food and beverage business’ chief executive said the uncertainty and a loss of shoppers and workers from London meant the concept would remain closed until further notice.
Market Halls chief executive Andy Lewis-Pratt said: “[It’s] heart-breaking to see our business bought to its knees by Covid-19 and the ongoing uncertainty about how we get back to normal.”
While bars, pubs and restaurants will be allowed to reopen to limited customers from July 4, Markets Halls has said its concept cannot possibly work with social distancing measures in place.
Lewis-Pratt added that he was “desperately sorry for my employees and the independent food traders that make our Market Halls Family so special. We will support them as much as we can and continue to explore all possible opportunities to get us going again.”
However, Market Halls would not confirm how many staff would be affected or the information about its many independent traders.
The food halls concept is just the latest in an ongoing stream of high street casual dining and retail occupiers who have been forced to make redundancies, appoint administrators or even close down.
This week some 12,000 retail and hospitality jobs have disappeared with travel food retailer SSP Group, John Lewis, Arcadia, Harrods and the Casual Dining Group all announcing job losses.
Analysts have predicted this is only the tip of the iceberg as the chancellor Rishi Sunak begins to wind down the government’s furlough scheme.
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