Measures in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic for Food and Beverage Service Activities and Effect on the Town Center Policy in the UK

Abstract

This paper discusses COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures, support measures for food and beverage service activities from early 2020 to early 2022, and how those measures affected the town center policy in the UK. Early in the pandemic, the government created several types of support schemes for food and beverage service activities because it had a negative attitude toward imposing lockdowns. Subsequently, lockdowns and a variety of other restrictions were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government also temporarily changed certain functions of city planning institutes as support measures for food and beverage service activities, some of which evolved into formal measures for the post-COVID-19 era. These measures were intended to make it easier to change establishment use in order to create thriving town centers in the post-COVID-19 era. This shows that UK government took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to make fundamental changes in its town center policy.