Revealed: What will happen to London pub and restaurant surplus stock now Tier 3 has shuttered hospitality’s Christmas

London is home to thousands of pubs and restaurants.

The capital emerged from lockdown into Tier 2 restrictions on December 2, which allowed venues to serve alcohol with a substantial meal. These hospitality businesses duly stocked up on beer, fresh food and supplies to see them through the busy and vital Christmas trading period.

Just 12 days later they were ordered to close, with just a day’s notice, as London was placed under the harshest Tier 3 restrictions. 

A wild night of trade was seen on Tuesday night, with Wetherspoons offering 99p pints, other pubs selling beers as cheaply as they could afford, and restaurants as packed as Covid-secure measures would allow.

But most of these premises had a full slate of bookings until December 25, and had stocked up accordingly.  What is going to happen to all their fresh produce? The turkeys, the Brussels sprouts, cheeses, milks, vegetables, high quality meat and seafood?

Trade body UK Hospitality has warned that millions of pounds worth of this food may be heading for the bin.

Its chief executive, Kate Nicholls, has said that “as with previous short-notice lockdowns, this is going to cause a glut of wasted food and drink,” because hospitality businesses cannot “just turn on and off”.

Karen Bosher, Greene King’s managing director of Premium, Urban and Venture, told the Standard that the “write-off of stock is a serious material problem”.

“The fact we are not compensated [by Government] shows a lack of material understanding of what we are having to throw away, or give away to food banks," she said. “It comes at a material cost to the business."

There is also expected to be a ripple effect of pain down the supply chain as a result of the last-minute change.

The Standard went out to London venues to ask the question. Restaurateurs, publicans and market operators told us they were doing everything they can to avoid adding to the “mountain of food waste”.

These hard-pressed business owners are donating surplus produce to food banks - while still having to pay suppliers’ bills - giving to their now re-furloughed staff members, and pivoting last minute to local retail.

Here are some of their stories:

Giving the food to struggling newly-furloughed hospitality staff

Wild by Tart is a Pimlico based restaurant launched by co-founders Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison.The pair are former caterers to the stars - their previous clients include Kate Moss and supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

Jones told the Standard that the amount of food waste set to be seen across the capital in the coming week is “devastating”.

She said: “The latest announcement is just another sign that the government does not know what it’s doing when it comes to hospitality. The amount of food waste we’ll see across the capital is devastating, as restaurants will have bought stock to last them for the coming 10 days - the most busy period of the year.”

Jones and the team have literally been preserving food in an attempt to save all produce they can, and will offer all fresh surplus produce to their “brilliant” staff.

She said: “We have been hard at work since we found out about Tier 3 preserving and pickling everything we can - but also ensuring all fresh stock goes to our staff, who, after such a challenging year, deserve all the help they can get this festive period.”

Several other restaurants are, like Wild by Tart, offering their stock to staff. Hospitality workers face a Christmas on just 80% of basic pay, and a larger real-terms pay cut in the absence of tips.

Many London restaurants, bars and pubs are also reporting laying off staff as a result of the capital being plunged into Tier 3 at short notice, with venues missing out on vital December revenues business owners had counted on to see them through the lean January and February period.

It comes after UK jobless figures released this week showed around a third of all job losses seen since February were in the hospitality sector.

The British Beer & Pub Association has said that the move to Tier 3 alone will both cost millions and put a further 8,000 jobs at risk.

Pivoting to mail orders and storefront sales

Mathew Carver, owner and operator of artisanal Camden venue, The Cheese Bar, and Funk on hipster destination Columbia Road, said that just last weekend his team had been “busy buying enough cheese to last us to January”.

The business now has a whopping 1.5 tonnes of the dairy-based produce “which we need to shift in just a few days”.

Carver told the Standard he was “thankful” for already set mail orders, and the opportunity to sell cheese from his sites operating only as stores.

He said: “That will help us clear some of this, but we’ll still be sitting on a mountain of British cheese come 24th December.

“We won’t be able to keep this though until January - so instead we’re planning to donate 100 cheeseboards to local charities in Camden and Hackney, and hopefully brighten up the Christmases of Londoners in need.”

Selling off high-end produce to lucky local Londoners  

Chef patron Tony Rodd, who runs modern British restaurant Copper & Ink in the heart of upmarket Blackheath Village took to twitter on Tuesday to sell off venison he would no longer be able to serve ahead of Christmas.

The Masterchef finalist posted at 10.40am offering Blackheath locals the chance to buy 16 “stunning” prepped and ready-to-cook loins at £70 apiece, to freeze for the festive season or eat fresh.  The high quality meat had bee shot last weekend in Kent, the chef said.  Within hours, and ahead of the last evening of trading under Tier 2 restrictions, the chef had sold out.  He had so many requests that many locals were disappointed to have missed out.

Expressing his relief in response to the success, Rodd wrote: “Thanks to everyone who bought venison from us today. You are all amazing! 16 loins sold in a few hours. That's one butchers invoice I don't have to worry about!”

Rodd is not the only chef attempting to pivot to the retail market last-minute.


It follows a similar pattern as following the first lockdown in March, which saw restaurateurs and industry suppliers suddenly shut down sell off prime cuts of meat - and even lobster - at cut-price rates to Londoners in a bid to prevent waste and sell the produce before it went out of date.

Working with neighbours to sell off takeaway pints and shift kegs

The George Inn at Southwark has stood since the 17th century, and was a favourite haunt of Charles Dickens. It is London’s sole remaining galleried pub, and was even mentioned in Little Dorrit.

Manager Tom Flynn told the Standard he sold pints of lager and craft beer for just £2, and cask ale for £1.49, on Tuesday night in an attempt to shift as many pints as possible.  

The rest of his heavy kegs are now being “decanted” over to neighbouring pub, The Anchor, which - unlike The George - is opening to offer takeaway pints and food between now and Christmas.

The publican, who operates the site for pub giant Greene King, said his huge leftover stocks of food will be donated to a food bank on Borough High Street.

“At least it will be helping families struggling through the pandemic,” he said.

Donating the surplus stock to charities and local food banks

Darren Henaghan, managing director of London’s iconic and usually packed Borough Market, said its partnership with food waste outfit Plan Zheroes will help the market and more than 23 traders shift the surplus food to good causes “through until Christmas”.  

Chef Nicholas Balfe, of Brixton’s seasonal-focused restaurant Salon, said that - as a result of the pandemic and repeated lockdowns - his team had already become “a fairly lean operation when it comes to our ordering”.

They will sell off any surplus or additional food they can, and “donate anything left over to local food charities in Brixton and Peckham”.  

The Standard’s Food for London Now appeal is partnered with The Felix Project - the capital’s largest food redistribution charity.

Richard Smith, the charity’s Head of Supply, today called on all London restaurants and pubs to get in touch with the charity about donating their surplus stock.

He said: “The Felix Project is exceptionally busy rescuing food supply from restaurants and bars who have had to close because of Tier 3 restrictions. Food waste is always a problem at Christmas but these sudden restrictions are aggravating the issue.

“We urge restaurants and pubs with surplus food in London to get in touch and we will do our best to get it safely out to good causes serving people in need.”

This paper’s appeal has seen huge support since launching in March, and has managed to raise more than £2 million to help ensure that no one in the capital goes hungry because of Covid-19.

The Standard is also planning to create a professional-led social kitchen, which will aim to produce 1.5 million meals to Londoners in need every year, as a lasting legacy towards tackling food poverty.