HAVE A BEER TO SAVE OUR PUBS
SCORES of Queensland country pubs are on the brink of calling last drinks after the triple calamity of low tourism, drought and coronavirus restrictions.
The Queensland Hotels Association has issued a dire SOS, encouraging punters to have a beer at a regional or country pub.
Many publicans said they relied on holiday seasons to get through the quiet times, but with drops in regional tourism and mass closures during coronavirus lockdowns, many are in crisis mode.
Some publicans have turned to selling coffee and scones to make a living, while others are realising it’s more viable to just run a drive-through bottle shop and shut the pub.
Queensland Hotels Association chief executive Bernie Hogan said in the state’s west particularly, coming out of years of drought, dozens of hotels were on a knife-edge.
“In the major population centres, there are still going to be plenty that are struggling,” he said. Halifax Hotel publican Jimmy Thompson said local trade was enough to pay bills, but they needed southern travellers to survive.
Phil Campling, publican of the Malpass Hotel, Home Hill, said if someone offered to buy his pub, he would ask them, “Are you sure?’’
When plainclothes police officers issued three $6672 COVID-19 infringement fines in a police blitz of regional hotels last week, the owner of the Federal Hotel in Wallumbilla said, “We may lose the only pub in town due to this.”
Mr Hogan said local hotels kept small country towns alive, and meant more to the community than just a place to grab a beer.
“They do that incredibly well, however they’re often also the town hall, the respite centre during times of crisis, the mental health clinic,” he said.
“They are often the major employer in the town … They really need us to get out there and do the one thing we can do and visit them.”