Lockdown rumours make me feel that my restaurant’s fate is out of my hands

While briefings take place in Westminster, I and my staff in York are still waiting to find out how bad restrictions will be

Based on leaks and speculation that restaurants and bars in a huge area of the country far from Westminster were to be shut, as a northerner I spent last week wondering if my York restaurant, the Rattle Owl, was actually northern. Scotland had gone. Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds were mooted next, all in local lockdown. York was not.

That was midweek. Then, on Friday, the Daily Mail flagged York as red and the Guardian reported that most of Yorkshire would be included. The fate of my business (and my supply chain) is now dependent upon highlighter pens, someone crunching numbers, and journalists’ cosy relationships with factional politicians, until the full announcement on Monday.

I’m thinking of launching a campaign: eat at five to help us survive