The chocolate retailer said staff can show their pass in stores for the cheap chocs.
Hotel Chocolat is offering every NHS worker a 50% discount on its products in store, as a “thank you” for their work during the coronavirus outbreak.
The company follows similar moves from Pret, McDonald’s and hotel chains, which are offering discounts, free drinks and accommodation for key workers.
Chief executive Angus Thirlwell said: “Our locations are so close to so many major hospitals, it made sense for us to do something.
“That’s why any NHS worker can get a 50% discount in our stores with presentation of their pass. We hope when the day’s over they can have a chocolate or two to relax.”
In preparation for a potential shutdown, Mr Thirlwell added that he is planning to turn stores into delivery operations, making drop-offs from local stores to residents.
Several businesses have already stepped up, offering resources and services to assist with the Covid-19 outbreak, and the Government has been asking factories whether they can produce extra ventilators.
But others have taken advantage of the situation, with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) saying the outbreak has prompted concerns that people could be exploited by companies “charging excessive prices or making misleading claims about their products”.
It said it has already contacted traders and platforms over excessive pricing of hand sanitiser as part of its efforts.
The move by Hotel Chocolat came as the company revealed it raised £22 million on the stock market on Friday through the issuing of new shares.
This included Mr Thirlwell and his co-founder Peter Harris spending £2 million each on the buy-in.
The company said there had been “strong demand from existing shareholders and other high-quality institutional investors”.
LONDON (AP) — Thousands of doctors in England’s state-funded health system walked off the job Friday in a five-day strike over pay that the government says will disrupt care for patients across the country.
Resident doctors, those early in their careers who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care, took to picket lines outside hospitals after talks with the government broke down.
The National Health Service said emergency departments would be open and hospitals and clinics would try to carry out as many scheduled appointments as possible.
The doctors are seeking a pay raise to make up for what their union, the British Medical Association, says is a 20% real-terms pay cut since 2008.
“When doctors decide to take strike action it’s always portrayed as though we’re being selfish, but we’re here as a body to help the public day in, day out, to work hours that don’t even end sometimes," said Kelly Johnson, a doctor on the picket line outside St. Thomas’ Hospital in central London,
“Here we are just trying to get what’s right for us so we can do our best to serve the public.”
The government says doctors have received an average 28.9% increase as part of a deal to settle previous strikes and it will not offer more, but is willing to discuss improved working conditions.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged the doctors to go back to work.
“Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage,” he wrote in The Times newspaper.
“Behind the headlines are the patients whose lives will be blighted by this decision. The frustration and disappointment of necessary treatment delayed. And worse, late diagnoses and care that risks their long-term health," Starmer wrote.
Health sector staff staged a series of rolling strikes over more than a year in 2023-24, seeking pay rises to offset the rising cost of living. The strikes forced tens of thousands of appointments and procedures to be postponed.
The strikes hit efforts by the National Health Service to dig out of an appointment backlog that ballooned after the COVID-19 pandemic and led to longer waiting times to see a doctor.
The strikes stopped after the Labour government elected in July 2024 gave doctors a raise, but the union held a new strike vote last month.
NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)
NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)
Britain's Health Secretary Wes Streeting, center, listens during a visit to NHS National Operations Centre to see how they manage industrial action, in London, Friday, July 25, 2025. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)
NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)
NHS resident doctors and supporters stand outside St Thomas' Hospital as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the Government collapsed over pay, in London, Friday, July 25, 2025. (James Manning/PA via AP)
NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)
NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)
