Manager of south Belfast bar predicting massive Mother’s Day revenue losses amid virus concerns

A BAR in south Belfast expects to lose more than half its Mother’s Day revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ryan’s Bar and Restaurant, on the Lisburn Road, said 40% of bookings for this Sunday had been cancelled.

The restaurant usually accepts walk-ins but does not anticipate many people will visit without booking this weekend.

Restaurants including Ginger Bistro, 2Taps, the Muddler’s Club and Ox have already closed their doors until at least the end of March.

Richard Black, Ryan’s general manager, said Mother’s Day was usually one of the busiest days of the year.

“We would be fully booked on Mother’s Day traditionally and on top of that people would come in on a first come, first served basis to eat in the bar, but judging by what it was like last weekend, we’ll not do much beyond what we have booked,” he added.

“People are unsure if places will be open, so they aren’t taking the chance to just walk in. It’s going to reduce our revenue on the day by more than half.

“We’ve tried to be proactive and we closed on St Patrick’s Day like 90% of bars.

“We wanted to take a day to rearrange, so that there was enough room between tables.

“About 40% of reservations on Mother’s Day have been cancelled. The rest have continued.”

Mr Black said that despite the uncertain short-term future, the owner of Ryan’s was not considering redundancies.

“We have a small team and most of our staff have been with us for a long time. The owner doesn’t want to lose any staff and isn’t considering redundancies at all,” he explained.

“We will have to close at some point, but we also want to reopen and we want to have the same staff that we have now.”