Traditional pubs heading back to business

Traditional pubs across Northern Ireland are again looking forward to a resumption of trading after the Executive signaled the end of six months of inactivity yesterday with a new indicative date for re-opening.

September 21 is now the date on which so-called ‘wet pubs’ across the country will be able to welcome customers back into their premises following the Covid-19 lockdown.

It was announced by First Minister, Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill yesterday during their first joint press conference at Stormont since the latter’s attendance at the funeral of Republican, Bobby Storey in Belfast more than two months ago drove a wedge between the pair.

The new date for the opening of traditional bars was welcomed by Hospitality Ulster almost immediately. Colin Neill described it as ‘a vital step forward’ which, if adhered to, would provide ‘a vital lifeline for those who have had to shut for the past six months without any income’.

This is the third time that the Executive has issued the industry with an indicative date for a resumption of its traditional business and Mr Neill urged Ministers to ‘hold steady’ this time and ensure that the re-opening went ahead.

Michael Stewart, who runs hospitality training consultancy, Bar Czar Ltd. was, until recently, director of House Belfast on Botanic Avenue. He believes that the decision to allow wet pubs to re-open for trade has come ‘way too late’:

‘It’s literally six months since we went into lockdown,’ he told LCN today (Friday). ‘But I do think that the Executive has been faced with balancing lives against livelihoods and that’s a very fine balance.’

Adding that he thought the Executive had, to some extent, been forced to act after the Republic of Ireland announced an indicative opening date of September 21 for its bars, Michael added:

‘It was just coming to the point where the decision had to be made. Had they not, they would have been morally obliged to provide some sort of compensation package and the money for that just isn’t there.’

Michael accepted that there would be different opinions among the public around the Executive’s decision to allow traditional bars to open while the virus was still spreading, but referred to the First Minister’s remarks on Thursday when she said:

‘At the moment the villain is not businesses where customers’ behaviours are regulated, it is in our homes – it is the house party, it is the dinner party, it is the few people coming around for drinks or a coffee.’

Michael went on:

‘[The lockdown] has obviously knocked people’s confidence, customers and employees, but the fact is that venues are always going to ensure that their places are safe to work in and safe to return to. The issue now really is, customers ways of working and living  and how they have changed, the ways that people go out to enjoy themselves have changed and some of them might never go back to a bar or a restaurant. In hospitality, we have to be able to get this balance right and venues will be working hard to make sure that places are safe for customers and employees to visit or work in.’

Belfast publican, Padraic Brennan, who runs Brennan’s Bar on Great Victoria Street, has been able to trade under the restrictions since July 20, but he says his business is down by 70 per cent. He’s happy to see colleagues in the wet pub sector being given a date for the resumption of business, but warns that trade, even in the centre of Belfast, has been dramatically affected by the lockdown regulations:

‘There are no people here, everyone is working from home,’ he says. ‘The shops are decimated and the city centre is a ghost town. The car park opposite us has nine floors and only four of them are full through the week. No-one is coming out of the railway station and so the newsagent’s shop has now closed. It’s like a chain reaction from top to bottom.’