Greggs to reopen 800 shops this week as baker rolls out lockdown exit plan June 16, 2020 It has been a long time since you could get your hands on Greggs’ famous vegan sausage rolls – but the wait will finally come to an end this week. Greggs is to reopen 800 shops on Thursday, having successfully trialled social distancing measures in a small number of stores, with the remaining 1,250 shops early [...]
Waterstones to reopen stores in England from Monday June 11, 2020 Waterstones will start to reopen its stores in England from Monday, after closing for nearly three months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The bookseller has outlined a number of measures to ensure the safety of customers and employees alike. Waterstones said given the varying size of branches, it may limit the number of customers shopping [...]
UK lockdown: Zoos and drive-in cinemas could reopen from 15 June June 10, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson is today expected to outline which sectors of the UK economy will reopen after lockdown on 15 June, such as zoos and drive-in cinemas. The UK is slowly reopening its economy after it entered lockdown on 23 March, leading to the widespread closure of restaurants, pubs, gyms, cafes and most shops [...]
Brits turn their back on cash during lockdown as contactless payments jump to £957m June 10, 2020 The average Brit has gone 44 days since using cash as new research reveals lockdown has accelerated the pivot to contactless payments. Customer data from Nationwide shows that tap-and-pay transactions have increased 44 per cent since the week of 23 March, when Britain was placed on lockdown. Nationwide members made 78.5m contactless between 23 March [...]
Ferry service Thames Clippers to restart on 15 June June 9, 2020 River bus service Thames Clippers will return to service from 15 June as lockdown measures continue to ease and more commuters return to work. The company, which runs ferry journeys to 23 piers across London, will operate a bespoke timetable when it restarts services next week. Thames Clippers has made a number of changes to [...]
Put sharing at the heart of the post-Covid economy June 5, 2020 As we begin to emerge from lockdown, it’s not hard to see the damage that Covid-19 has done to small businesses on the high-street. What’s perhaps less obvious is the impact it has had on digital SMEs, particularly those that make up Britain’s vibrant sharing economy. At the beginning of 2020, an Ipsos Mori poll [...]
Coronavirus: How safe is it to order takeaway food in lockdown? June 5, 2020 Restaurants have started pivoting to takeaway services amid the pandemic to stay afloat as normal service will only be able to resume, in some capacity, in July. The government has not ruled out restaurants from offering takeaway services and last month issued guidance. We look at how safe it is to order takeaway food and [...]
Contactless payments soar over £900m in UK lockdown June 3, 2020 Barclaycard today revealed it has processed over 25m contactless payments above £30 since the new £45 limit was introduced, with a total value of over £900m. As of April 1, when the spending cap was raised, the average of these payments has been £36.29, according to data released by the brand. The limit was raised [...]
O2 reopening after lockdown with virtual queueing technology June 1, 2020 O2 will reopen its stores across England this month, with new layouts and a virtual queuing system as part of its safety measures during the pandemic. At the so-called future stores, which will open from 15 June, customers will skip queues and instead join a virtual system. They will receive a text when an advisor [...]
Losses at UK’s top restaurants jump to £151m June 1, 2020 Losses at the UK’s top 100 restaurants increased to £151m last year, a figure that will only worsen as the industry grapples with the impact of the coronavirus. Figures from accountancy group UHY Hacker Young show a 94 per cent increase in losses, from £78m the year before. The government has tentatively set out plans [...]