Cathedral Quarter bars to close as custom plummets
Belfast’s Duke of York and Harp Bars are to close from Christmas Eve in the face of the Omicron threat, with owner Willie Jack unsure when they will reopen.
Willie Jack told Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra the Cathedral Quarter venues will close at 8pm from Sunday up until Christmas Eve.
The move comes after publican Pedro Donald closed The Sunflower Bar in Belfast city centre until January, after five of his staff tested positive for Covid-19.
Mr Jack said the amount of customers coming through the doors of the Harp Bar and Duke of York was the “quietest in 35 years” he has ever seen in Belfast.
“For having premises quite famous for music venues and the iconic and instagrammable streets, we are probably dealing in the Duke of York with 30% and the Harp Bar maybe 20% of what we would normally expect,” said Mr Jack.
“Unfortunately, I would go to offer that Belfast is on its knees and as a result of this, we’re going to take the decision that we’re going to close from Sunday at 8pm until further notice, open limited hours.
“Currently, we don’t even open the Harp Bar because there isn’t the demand, there isn’t the office workers, but we’ve now decided we will be closing every night, and [in doing so] reducing the livelihood of musicians, so we’re closing at 8pm and then we’ll be closed from Christmas Eve and we don’t know when we will reopen.”
Mr Jack also told of his frustration that the Executive is yet to make a decision around restrictions following Christmas.
“We should be doing it the same with England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic.
“We need to have courageous leaders to say, ‘if the Republic closes at 5pm as is suggested, then that is why we have to look at this on an all-Ireland basis’.”
