Chatting with James Sinclair about all things lockdown

Foreign.

But we're talking today about boosting the hospitality industry, saving the hospitality industry with. And there's definitely some tactics and tips to do. So James is going to come on, he's going to talk about what he's been doing in the past five weeks since he was last on the podcast. And also as well, he's going to be explaining about what he has been doing not only for his business, but how he's going to help you. And he's got an idea and he's going to read it, he's going to tell everybody about it and then we need you to action on it. All right, let's get on with the show.

Well, I had a big empire. I don't know whether I've still got a big empire. That's the, that's the big question. I mean, yeah, I'm, I'm in a man that's pretty much spent his life in the hospitality and leisure sector.

Can you just sort of explain your opinions on it and why you believe this is a good sign specifically for people that are listening to this from the uk?

First of all, the United Kingdom is obviously trusted around the globe as a great place to do business. And when you've got a country that has a majority moderate government, and I would say they are a moderate centre right government, or even if you had a center left or a centralist government, when you've got a majority government that is not going to worry about a general election for five years, we sit comfortably in that position where we sit Ireland have got a three way situation going on there where no one's really got any power. We sit in a very comfy position that we have a majority government and we don't have to worry about that. That gives investors, that is outside money, pension funds, big, proper money, faith to invest in the uk. And it's not just that, it's private investors, angel investors, they're looking to dump cash into the uk. You know, as a global brand, UK PLC is very trusted. And if I. Not just because I am a Brit, but if I had to place my money anywhere in the world, the UK would be in my choice of the top five, top 10.

The letter that you want to send to Boris, this is a letter you want to send to the Prime Minister, you want to send to the Chancellor, but not just you, you want everybody to join in, you know, everybody from the hospitality, all the businesses. So can you just explain the idea behind it and obviously then we'll explain at the end how people can get involved as well. This. This is really important.

Countries like Spain, France, Ireland have a lower rate of VAT for leisure and tourism. In the United Kingdom, we pay higher rate. I mean, there's actually why France got Disneyland or Disney, Euro Disney over it going in Spain or going in the United Kingdom. And the United Kingdom was quite high up there in the choices to do that. But because we have a high rate of vat, that's why France got chosen. It's been proven time and time again that if you have a lower tourism vat, a lower leisure and tour vat, it actually drives more taxes into the government's coffers. What I'm quite keen about doing is in this situation where government are actually listening and they're understanding that leisure is the one that's most hard hit. Now is our time to shout the loudest and champion change. I think what's going to happen in the furlough scheme? I don't know if this is, you know, accurate and completely true, but my best guess is that the leisure and tourism sector will be able to furlough their staff for much longer than other sectors. What I'm really hoping for is that the government allow us to furlough our staff, but allow them to work.

There you go. And you get the round of applause in as well. Is there anything that you can recommend, whether it's Netflix, sky tv, movie, whatever it may be?

I watched Unorthodox on Netflix, which was flipping fantastic. That really opened my eyes. I love Peaky Blinders and I love Game of Thrones. They're the. They're my three. But Unorthodox is the recent one I've watched. I thought it was fantastic.