EATERIES COLD ON CONCEPT

TOWNSVILLE’S hospitality industry was already suffering without having to consider energy- saving measures, JAM Restaurant owner Matt Merrin said.

The restaurant last weekend held its final Sunday lunch service citing high wage costs.

Mr Merrin said setting airconditioner temperatures at 26C or above was not an option.

“I think it’s a pretty outrageous ask,” Mr Merrin said.

“It’s not suitable for Townsville.

“There’s already enough with water and other things going wrong, doing that to our industry would just be ridiculous.”

Mr Merrin, who said the restaurant’s airconditioner temperature usually was about 24C, said that higher levels could hinder productivity.

“If you’ve got workers who are agitated productivity is going to go down,” Mr Merrin said. “I have got business people here ( eating) in a shirt and tie.”

Gecko Interiors owner Lucy Downes said it was an unrealistic expectation for retailers to conform to.

“We really need to be comfortable. I’m in a precinct where we have visitors from other states of the country and they need to feel comfortable as well, it’s vitally important that we’re not burdened with having to have our airconditioners set at such a high level.”

About Town Real Estate leasing manager Kelly Totman suggested the State Government look at alternative ways to confront the issue.

“I know with our rental properties we say to tenants, ‘ Hey you need to run your aircons at 23’ and we know they’re not running them at 23, so telling our tenants to run them at 26, they’re not going to do that so maybe they need to come up with another solution.”