Emergency legislation enacted last weekend required the closure of many food and drink businesses and leisure venues from 21 March. These included restaurants, cafes, pubs, cinemas, theatres and gyms.  These restrictions are due to be reviewed after three weeks but may be extended.

The effects of closures are immediate.  Directors will be taking a close look at whether recent government measures can help with the immediate issue of cash flow.  But directors will also need to consider medium- and long-term implications such as changes to their supply chain and consumer behaviours.

There were a string of administrations in the casual-dining sector in the last few years before Covid-19; recent events are likely to have accelerated and exacerbated existing problems that directors were already considering.  However, directors will now need to face modelling their company's future prospects against an inherently unpredictable pandemic, and will need to take in to account a range of other issues we have written about here: https://www.burges-salmon.com/news-and-insight/legal-updates/covid-19/governance-and-duties-in-the-time-of-covid19/