THE boss of a Bournemouth nightclub has warned he could have to make all his staff redundant if the 10pm Covid curfew forces him to close his premises.

Ty Temel, who runs the club Halo, said more than 50 jobs are at stake at his business and around 1,000 in the BCP area.

His words follow warnings that the “whole night time economy” could be lost if the government does not offer more than the job support announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The government has ordered bars, clubs and restaurants to close at 10pm in a bid to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.

'Whole night-time economy could close': Dorset reaction to job scheme

Mr Temel said he was running events from 6-10pm on a trial basis but was “unfortunately not hopeful” they would be a success.

“One of my biggest fears is in November when the furlough scheme stops, if we are not open, then we will have no option but to lay off all of our staff,” he said.

Bournemouth's Halo nightclub set for first event since lockdown

He said the situation would not be helped by the chancellor’s new job support scheme, which only supports workers who can be kept on with reduced hours.

“We’ve got a bounce back loan but it doesn’t touch the sides and more debt isn’t the answer," he added.

Mr Temel, who also runs the bar Canvas and the cancelled SandFest and SandPolo events, said: “We closed Halo in January for a month and spent a large amount of money, nearly half a million pounds, on a huge refit.

“We were open for five weeks before March 20 when we were told to close.”

The venue reopened three weeks ago, with customers seated at tables and the music played quietly. “We traded three nights at 200 capacity when we can normally have over 800 people and it was very tough. We took probably 25 per cent of what we would normally take,” he added.

Last week, restaurateur Andy Lennox, of the industry group Wonky Table, said the night-time economy locally would disappear without more help.

“Unless a specific package of support comes in for them, they won’t be here,” he said.

“We talk about BCP being a world class resort and we’re about to literally close our whole night time economy.”

Also last week, the chain Revolution Bars – which has a venue in Old Christchurch Road – revealed it was looking at closing sites following the latest Covid restrictions.