Just over a year ago when the first UK lockdown came into force we, like so many other hospitality businesses across the country and the world, had to close our doors. For a hostel that had welcomed travellers 365 days a year since our opening all those years ago, it was a strange feeling. But we knew we all had to do our bit and saw the closure of Clink78 and our other hostels as a painful but necessary action that would help to curb the spread of the virus. Of course, we soon realised that the virus wasn’t going away anytime soon and that the global travel industry would be heavily impacted for many more months - extending far beyond the reach of the initial government lockdown last spring.