THE night-time economy advisor for Bolton and Greater Manchester has reacted angrily to conflicting reports of hospitality industry reopenings.

Sacha Lord, the region's pubs and clubs supremo, was responding to leaked suggestions that restrictions may ease from April.

But he is just as concerned with the ending of furlough schemes and suppport packages for the industry.

He said: "The leaked information suggests multiple dates are being considered for the reopening of hospitality ranging April to August.

"All options are a blow to the sector. We need urgent clarity, and to understand the financial support which will be in place to support businesses.

"The current packages, including VAT and furlough, are due to end March and April respectively and following these leaks, operators cannot now wait a further two weeks until the Chancellor’s budget on March 3 to find out what is happening, both from a financial point of view and a mental health perspective.

"We have pushed for hospitality to reopen at the same time as non-essential retail and I am disappointed this doesn’t appear to be under consideration.

"We understand retail has struggled enormously during this pandemic, however hospitality venues across the UK have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on ensuring venues are Covid secure and it could be argued they are the safest venues to reopen."

He says there is "no justification" for the industry to be "pushed aside".