HOSPITALITY bosses are 'devastated' with the announcement that Dorset will move to Tier 2 coronavirus restrictions when the national lockdown ends.

Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that Dorset and BCP councils will move to Tier 2 restrictions at the end of the second national lockdown on December 2.

This means that only hospitality venues that serve food can open, they must provide table service and they must stop taking orders after 10pm.

Bob Rezeai, owner of Crustacean, said: "This is going to be devastating to us and all businesses. We will open but I don’t think it will be worthwhile as we will be losing roughly £7,000 - £10,000 every week as we cannot get customers in.

"The tier system is fine, but the government should be taking smaller areas into consideration and should not take the county as one. Bournemouth has a much higher rate of infection because it has universities but there is nothing like that in Weymouth, Portland or Dorchester so we shouldn’t be grouped.

"I am hoping we get moved down to Tier 1 as I feel being in Tier 2 is really unfair. The government seems to be changing the goalpost every five minutes and we are not being fairly treated."

Eric Tavernier, owner of Les Enfants Terribles, said: "It was very unexpected hearing we were going to be in Tier 1 – I thought we would be in Tier 2.

"We had about a dozen bookings of tables of six during December, but within an hour of the announcement three cancelled as they are not all from the same household. I don’t expect to take any six person bookings now while we are in Tier 2.

"This is not a good day and it has not been a good year."

Hotels are permitted to reopen under the Tier 2 restrictions.

Paul Fitzgerald, Regional Director of Bespoke Hotels, which runs The Royal Hotel on Weymouth’s seafront, said: "These are very difficult traditions at the moment but the positive is that we are still able to reopen under the Tier 2 restrictions.

"Once we reopen we will be contacting all of the customers who are booked in to stay with us to gauge their reaction.

"If we have customers that are living in or travelling from areas in Tier 3 it may be that they want to postpone their stay with us. It is not our job to police it, it is up to everyone to make up their own minds if they are comfortable travelling based on the guidelines.

"We are ready to reopen but what we still need to understand is customers’ sentiment and if they are still happy to travel to stay with us, so we will be engaging with everyone who has booked."

The iconic hotel only reopened its doors in September after being taken over by the independent group, Bespoke, in moves which created 25 jobs.