The Dockyard bar at MediaCity has spent £10,000 on a number of outdoor ‘sheds’ as part of their preparation for life in Tier 3 – only to find they will go unused during a new national lockdown announced by the Government.

The Media City bar’s outdoor sheds that can accommodate customers and their support bubbles in a socially-distanced manner will be unused throughout November

From Thursday, all non-essential businesses and shops are to close, just a week after it was announced Greater Manchester would be moving into the highest alert level.

The Dockyard at MediaCityUK have spent £10k on socially distanced ‘sheds’.
credit: Holly Farragher

George Horsley, Operations Manager at The Dockyard said: “It’s impossible to prepare fully, all you can do is try your best.

“I feel like the whole hospitality industry have put a lot of groundwork in, there’s a lot of training involved, no expenses spared.

“We’ve spent a lot of money on our outside area, creating socially distant sheds. They are obviously designed for social bubbles to distance away from the general public.”

Another lockdown means another month off work for everyone in the hospitality industry.

George added, “It’s another reset button, we had one back in March, with another happening now.

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing, the government supported us in the first one, so we feel confident it’s not as bad as it could be.”

England’s second lockdown comes into force from Thursday 5th November and is expected to last until Wednesday 2nd December.

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