Today I shared an Instagram post from the owners of The Drapers Arms in London. Ordinarily, there is nothing new in that, except it’s particularly a post that generally goes against the grain of the Hospitality sector.

Yes, the owners at The Drapers Arms will be closing their kitchen because they believe the high temperatures expected on Thursday will make their staff’s workplace intolerable.

So, legally where do the Hospitality staff stand with working environment temperatures? Brutally, there is no maximum, yet there is a minimum – one guesses to protect office dwellers from getting cold tootsies.

Yet times are a-changing. The TUC has released a proposal to alter the legislation and create that upper limit. The proposal states:

“The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers recommends the following temperatures for different working areas:

• Heavy work in factories: 13°C

• Light work in factories: 16°C

• Hospital wards and shops: 18°C

• Offices and dining rooms: 20°C”

Now, as the self-anointed representatives of the sector, UK Hospitality, you’d think they’d be all over this PR opportunity like a rash. But no, they re-tweet one story (not even the original social media post) about it and instead send seven tweets trying to cosy up to Boris Johnson.

UK Hospitality you are a disgrace.

19,000 chefs left the industry last year and you are supposed to be their voice in lobbying for change. Every little counts (sorry Tesco) in terms of contributing factors helping make the recruitment and retention of chefs better/easier.

Instead, you are busy trying to give Boris a ‘Rusty trombone’ so he’ll give your members as £10bn taxpayer-funded tax break. You’ve got your priorities all wrong.

You seriously need to have a good long look at yourselves if you think you represent the entirety of the Hospitality sector, because from where I and countless others connected with UK kitchens sit-you couldn’t give a shit.

Oh, & FYI – think I’m alone in this? Think again, I shared the post on Facebook via our page, in 7hours over 22,000 people saw it and the vast majority thinking what the Drapers Arms had done should be applauded.

To Nick & the team at The Drapers Arms – An industry salutes you.