A coffee shop owner has spoken of his "massive disappointment" at Kent being thrown into Tier 3 for Covid restrictions.

George Spencer who runs Matestones in Maidstone High Street with his partner Sandra Lemke said: "It seems there are a few areas in Kent that are pulling all the rest of us into Tier 3, but I don't really understand why we have to suffer here."

Mr Spencer only opened his new venture in March and had just 10 days of "normal" trading before the country was plunged into lockdown and all the restrictions that have followed since.

He said: "We as a business have done everything we've been asked to do. We introduced 2m distancing, reduced the number of people coming in, introduced table service, sanitised as soon as people left. I'm confident nobody was catching Covid here, but we are still being hit."

He said: "I've seen figures that suggest that only 2% of cases are within the hospitality industry, yet we are being hit the hardest.

"I've lost confidence in the Government to be honest. There doesn't seem to be any justification for the decisions they make."

He said: "Shutting down our industry is not going to reduce transmissions."

Mr Spencer, 40, suggested the Government should have introduced far more local measures. He said: "Why not leave it to the borough councils to take measures appropriate to their areas?

"As it is, businesses in areas that have obeyed the rules and taken the correct precautions are being penalised because other places haven't."

But he also thought he knew where the Government should be looking to take action.
He said: "There are four teenagers going past my place right now, close together, touching each other.

"The schools are operating to year group bubbles, what's that, 150 kids? So 150 families are linked together.

"You can't blame the kids, they are just being kids, but they take the virus home to their parents and their grandparents."

During the second lockdown, Mr Spencer has been able to provide only a takeaway service, and he will be able to continue to do that in Tier 3, but he said it was not enough.

He said: "With our rent, our electricity and other costs, takeaway sales do not begin to cover that. But we shall have to continue, because if we didn't we would still have all the fixed costs plus the cost of stock going out of date.

"At least the income from takeaway sales reduces the losses we would have if we had to close altogether.

"But," he said, "with the support of our customers we will get through this."

To find out more about what Tier 3 means, click here.

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