As new figures show the economy grew by 2.1% in March and
performed better than previous forecasts for the first three
months of the year as a whole, visited Pillars Brewery in Walthamstow to see how
they are preparing for the reopening of indoor hospitality next
week and responding to an increase in demand for their products
as the economy recovers.
Like many other businesses in the food and drink industry,
Pillars have taken advantage of several aspects of the support
available under the Government’s Plan for Jobs including the
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and local business grants.
Pillars are also recruiting a Kickstarter under the
Government-backed scheme to help young people find new jobs.
On the visit, the Chancellor was welcomed by co-founders of
Pillars Brewery Gavin Litton and Omar Razaq, who spoke to the
Chancellor about their business and showed him how the brewing
process works.
Chancellor of the Exchequer said:
“It’s great to see businesses like Pillars who have been
supported by the government through the pandemic get back on
their feet as the economy begins to recover.
“Despite a difficult start to the year, the figures released
this morning showing economic growth in March are a promising
sign of things to come.
“Our Plan for Jobs is working – following the comprehensive
package we put in place, almost 2 million fewer people are
expected to be out of work than initially forecast, and the UK
economy is in a strong position to grow quickly as we emerge
from the pandemic.
“Even with this positive news, we know that many businesses and
people still need our help, and that’s why I want to reassure
everyone today that our Plan for Jobs will continue to create,
support and protect jobs in the coming months. We have extended
the self-employed and furlough schemes until September whilst
schemes like Kickstart are already helping to create thousands
of new jobs for young people – it’s great to see companies like
Pillars creating jobs under this scheme.
“As we cautiously reopen the economy, I will continue to take
all the steps necessary to support our recovery”
Pillars Brewery said:
“It was great to welcome the Chancellor to Pillars Brewery
today and talk to him about the challenges our business has
faced, and how we’ve found reopening so far. It’s been a relief
to welcome our staff back from furlough and we are also
recruiting new team members through the government’s Kickstart
scheme”
Today’s visit comes as ONS GDP figures, released this morning,
show that GDP grew by 2.1% in March. This morning’s release
also showed that GDP fell by 1.5% in Q1 2021 – significantly
better than the 3.8% fall the Office for Budget Responsibility
forecast in March. Last week, the Bank of England upgraded
their forecast for the UK economy and are now expecting that
the economy will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of
this year.
Established in 2016, Pillars was the first craft lager brewery
in London. Pillars recently scored a Gold Medal Award for their
Icebock in the 2021 London Beer Competition, and their three
core lagers (Hop Lager, Helles and Pilsner) were awarded
silver.
