Islington’s Exmouth market is struggling after the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak, with fewer customers and staff shortages causing problems for North London businesses.
The popular Clerkenwell street, which is home to celebrity owned Mikeller Bar by Rick Astley, is beginning to see the effects of Coronavirus, according to a number of bars and restaurants.
Coronavirus hits Italian restaurants
Fewer customers have been visiting Santoré, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria, said manager Luigi.
“It has affected us a lot,” he said. “Not as many people are coming to the restaurant as before because of the coronavirus. They don’t want to go out for dinner and be in a restaurant with other people.
“We really noticed it yesterday when the announcement came that the whole of Italy was in quarantine, and the news that people are now dying in the UK.”
This week, the Italian Prime Minister, Guiseppe Conte, announced the whole of Italy would be put under quarantine after at least 168 Coronavirus-related deaths in the country.
Luigi has also had problems with staff, with one waiter having to self-isolate after coming back from Italy on Monday.
“He isn’t showing any symptoms but is self-isolating just in case. He doesn’t want to be off but he has too. We’ve had to put him on sick pay and he won’t be back at work for another 15 days.”
Other Italian restaurants have taken precautions with staff returning back from Italy over the past few weeks.
According to the manager of Macellaira, staff were all checked for the virus when they came back for holidays in Italy.
Public Health England Coronavirus updates
So far, figures from Public Health England show six people have died and 373 people have been infected with Coronavirus in the UK.
There are at least 91 cases in London, however there are no cases in Islington as yet.
Coronavirus is not just affecting the number of customers dining out. Some cafés and restaurants are ordering in extra stock in preparation.
Lena, a waitress at the sports bar Café Kick, says her manager has ordered extra stock because of the Coronavirus outbreak.
“We’ve ordered more stock than usual, to stock up for the next few weeks. We usually order once a week for the week ahead but a few days ago we ordered for the next two weeks.”
For other restaurants, however, it’s business as usual.
Waiters at Morito, a tapas bar, haven’t noticed a downturn in customers over the past week.
“It’s not really affected us yet, people around us are just carrying on with their day to day lives,” says Ciara. “We’re actually busier than usual. It’s like we’re in some kind of bubble. I don’t think people are really bothered by it.”
Other businesses are yet to see the effect of Coronavirus on business.
Necco, a Japanese café bar, has been a feature of Exmouth market since 2010.
“It’s really hard to tell at the moment”, says one member of staff. “The business has been spikey since the end of 2019, if that’s because of Coronavirus I don’t know.”
This news on Coronavirus comes after the first case was reported in Islington and reports of panic buying have emerged from Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s in Angel.
