Kate Nicholls
This archive features our reporting on Kate Nicholls OBE — a key voice in the UK’s hospitality and foodservice policy landscape. As Chair of UKHospitality, Nicholls plays a central role in lobbying government, shaping regulation, and influencing the commercial environment in which restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés, and catering firms operate. Catering Today covers Nicholls’ statements, policy positions, and leadership activity because her work directly affects the trading conditions, labour challenges, and long-term resilience of foodservice businesses. For operators navigating rising costs, staffing pressures, or post-pandemic recovery, her advocacy and insights are both timely and consequential.
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Feb- 2021 -18 FebruaryTrade Associations
UKH urges industry to ‘send a message’ to gov ahead of March Budget
UKHospitality (UKH) is calling on businesses in the hospitality sector to “send a message” to the government by supporting a campaign to secure further financial support ahead of Rishi Sunak’s budget announcement next month. The trade association has garnered support for the campaign from leaders in the industry, including representatives…
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17 FebruaryCoronavirus
Report claims hospitality ‘not significant area’ of Covid transmission
A new report on the safe reopening of hospitality from analysts CGA, shows that businesses in the sector “were not significant areas of COVID transmission” in 2020 and argues they should be “central” to reopening plans in 2021. According to the study from the CGA, National Covid-19 cases do not…
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15 FebruaryCoronavirus
Over 160 hospitality CEOs urge chancellor to back sector in 2021
Over 160 CEOs from the UK’s leading hospitality businesses, employing hundreds of thousands of people, have written to the chancellor ahead of next month’s Budget. The letter, coordinated by trade body UKHospitality, calls for decisive support to help the sector survive, rebuild and drive the economic recovery and highlights two…
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1 FebruaryCoronavirus
UKH calls for VAT and rates support after ‘worst year on record’
UKHospitality has called for a further extension of VAT and business rates support from the government after the “worst year of trading on record” has left enormous swathes of the hospitality sector on the “verge of collapse”. The plea follows recent figures from UKHospitality’s quarterly sales tracker, in partnership with…
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Jan- 2021 -29 JanuaryBusiness
UKH warns quarantine rules could affect tourism long-term
UK Hospitality has responded to the new government hotel quarantine initiative by cautioning of the long-term impact on the UK’s relationship with international visitors. Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality reiterated that driving down cases and taking steps to eliminate new strains of the virus through enforcement of new and existing…
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28 JanuaryCoronavirus
Pandemic cost hospitality £200m a day in 2020
The pandemic and ensuing lockdowns cost the hospitality sector nearly £200m a day or £8m per hour in lost sales last year, with turnover less than half of 2019 levels, according to new data from UKHospitality and CGA. The latest edition of their quarterly tracker reveals that sales across restaurants,…
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26 JanuaryCoronavirus
Unemployment rises 5% to 1.7m
The UK unemployment rate rose by 5% in the three months to November with over 1.7 million people now out of work, according to the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Since February 2020, the number of payroll employees has fallen by 828,000, however, the ONS said larger falls…
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22 JanuaryTrade Associations
‘Stark reminder’ for action amid 6,000 sector closures, UKH warns
UKHospitality (UKH) has called for action after figures published today (22 January) by CGA revealed a net decline of nearly 6,000 licensed premises in the UK. The trade association has issued a warning that businesses in the hospitality sector must receive further financial support in order to survive the third…
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20 JanuaryTrade Associations
UKH calls for business rates holiday and VAT cut extension
UKHospitality (UKH) has written to the chancellor calling for an additional support package to accelerate the sector’s revival in 2021. The trade organisation asked the government to consider enacting further business rates holiday for hospitality businesses and an extension of the VAT cut to 5% for a further 12 months,…
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11 JanuaryTrade Associations
New travel requirements are encouraging, says UKHospitality chief
UKHospitality has labelled the government’s new international travel requirements as “encouraging”, with arrivals into the UK now required to to present a negative Covid-19 test taken up to 72 hours prior to departure for entry. In a statement, UKHospitality chief Kate Nicholls said that the decision which was announced on…
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