Bill’s and Dishoom are latest major groups to shutter sites

Indian restaurant group Dishoom closed all its locations and delayed its upcoming Birmingham site. Dim sum concept Ping Pong has also closed all its sites, as has the largely Northern-based New World Trading Company.

“Everyone, from our loyal guests to our hardworking teams and our loving communities,” New World Trading Company writes on its website’s homepage. “You have all contributed to what NWTC is today and for this reason the safety, wellbeing and health of everyone is at the heart of this extremely tough decision.

“Rest assured we will be back as soon as we can and it won’t be long before we’re all enjoying delicious food, sipping cocktails and dancing to live music together once again. We will miss you during this time and, for now, we will continue to keep our community together on our Instagram channels.”

Gordon Ramsay has announced on Instagram that all of his London restaurants will close tomorrow (21 March).

“As the situation changes daily our focus has to be on the health and safety of our employees, guests and community and to do our part in slowing the spread of the virus,” he writes.

“Whilst we don’t know when we will re-open, what we do know is by supporting each other through this terribly challenging time, we will come through this stronger than ever.”

Richard Caring's Caprice Holdings has also closed its London restaurants, which include Sexy Fish, Scott's and J.Sheekey. 

Yesterday (19 March), Japanese group YO! announced the closure of 54 of its sites​​​ with a further 16 staying open but offering a reduced menu to make things easier for its teams. 

Burger chain Byron and Vietnamese chain also closed to the public yesterday but the majority of their sites will continue to offer a delivery service, while Italian chains ASK Italian and Zizzi closed the vast majority of their respective estates with a handful staying open for delivery. 

All day cafe bar chain Loungers has said the partial or complete temporary closure of all of its circa 150 sites is a potential scenario.

In a trading update, the group said it was taking steps to manage costs, protect cash flow and secure shareholder value and the long-term success of the business in “unprecedented times”.