Owner of Streatley Coppa Club, Hugh Osmond, loses coronavirus roadmap challenge
A WEST Berkshire hotel owner, who launched a joint legal challenge against the Government in a bid to bring forward the date that indoor hospitality can reopen, has had his case rejected by the High Court.
The case was brought by Hugh Osmond, owner of The Coppa Club in Streatley and Greater Manchester night time economy tsar Sacha Lord.
The pair argued that there was no justification or scientific basis for indoor hospitality to remain closed while other businesses, such as non-essential retail, have been permitted to resume trading.
However, the High Court ruled in favour of the Government this week, on the grounds that it was 'academic' as there wasn't time for the court to hear it before May 17.
Following the ruling, Mr Osmond who is also the founder of Punch Taverns - the UK's largest pub chain - said: “This case is not 'academic' for an industry that is losing £200million every day it remains closed, for the over three million people who work in our industry, or for the tens of thousands of businesses, suppliers, landlords and contractors forced into bankruptcy by Government measures.
“Our legal action gave them a fighting chance yet once again in 2021, the strong arm of the state has come crushing down on hope and aspiration.”
Mr Osmond added that it was time to "follow the data rather than arbitrary dates based on outdated models".
Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News on Wednesday, Mr Osmond added: “It was disappointing.
“The first judge said this was a case that was worth speeding up. Then there was this unexplained, two week delay.
"When it did eventually get heard, the primary reason for ruling in favour of the government was that it was 'academic'. It was academic because they ran out of time.
“The judge said we should have brought the case forward faster, but we really couldn’t have done it much quicker."
Mr Osmond also criticised the Government for not making public “a quite detailed new report” from Sage, commissioned on April 8, that “quite clearly said there was no evidence of any increase in infection from eating out”.
He added that the Government’s own data showed that the majority of people who had caught Covid did so in care home or hospital settings and not by visiting pubs and restaurants.
Mr Osmond said: “At the start of the epidemic it was not unreasonable for people to think of pubs as hot, sweaty places where infections would spread.
“But as the pandemic went on and we started to get the real data, the evidence started to pile up that the pubs were not where the majority of infections were happening."
He added: “The roadmap we have been following is explicitly based on models produced by Sage.
“Now that we have all the data, it categorically shows that the assumptions in these models were way too pessimistic.
“For example, the vaccine take up has been significantly higher than anticipated in the model.
“It also underestimated the effect that the vaccine would have on stopping transmission of the virus.
“That’s two massive assumptions that were wrong and you would think, surely at this point, you could look at the data and reconsider the dates.
“If you look, there has been no surge in infections since the schools have reopened, even though many predicted there would be.
“There has been no surge in infections since the shops have reopened – and you can quite clearly see in some of them people aren’t social distancing. Yet the pubs have had to stay shut.”
Mr Osmond described the situation as ‘frightening’ for the hospitality industry, saying that ‘some of these places won’t be reopening on May 17 and some won’t be reopening at all’.
He added: “I’ve never seen anything like it and I don’t know how quickly it will fix.”
Reacting to the ruling, the landlord at The Catherine Wheel and Spare Wheel pubs in Newbury, Warwick Heskins, said: “I wasn’t really expecting the legal challenge to win but I certainly admire the guy for giving it a go.
“While it would have been nice to have reopened early and for everyone to come back indoors, I think it could have opened a can of worms.
“You would have got people saying ‘well if I can do this now, why can’t I do this as well? I think it could have caused quite a few issues.
“From my point of view, as annoying as it is having to keep The Catherine Wheel closed, I’m happy for it to stay with the original timetable, as long as there aren’t any more setbacks.”
Mr Heskins has been able to reopen The Spare Wheel as it has an outside seating area in the Market Place, but The Catherine Wheel has remained closed since last year.
He added: “I was told that I could have four tables outside at The Catherine Wheel, but bringing staff in to look after four tables is just impractical.
"It’s been great to be able to open The Spare Wheel and to see everyone again but we don't have a tent or marquee, so as soon as it rains it wipes you out. When it has been raining I have had to send staff home because there are no customers.
“I’m definitely looking forward to May 17.”
