Reduced hours, reduced staff, reduced seating; more cleaning and admin – publicans’ increased burden
WHILE fears are being expressed that the re-opening of pubs on Monday may be a step too far in terms of easing COVID-19 restrictions, publicans are facing a period where their income will be greatly reduced while their workload will be even more burdensome.
Kanturk publican/restauranteur Stephen Bowles has said his O’Brien Street establishment will be reopening next Wednesday, July 1, but with a reduced capacity and shorter hours from before the COVID-19 epidemic heralded closure since March.
“We will be reopening on Wednesday as we will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays,” he said. “Before we were open from 10 in the morning – from now on we won’t be opening until 5pm in the evening, so we will be missing out on breakfasts, coffees and teas and, of course, our lunches.
“On Sunday we will open from 12.30pm to cater for daytime customers.”
Staff will also be reduced, from 12 in the pre COVID-19 era to five or six, and the workload will be added to significantly by more cleaning and recording of cleaning. Stephen says he is looking forward to re-opening all the same as he thinks it’s a necessary step in the process of restoring a sense of normality.
“It will be a lot to grapple with – normally we can accommodate 80 people, it will be down to half that,” he said.
“We already have a number of bookings for our first night.”
He also said that he’s been organising training for his team to ensure they can themselves adhere to the remaining restrictions and that the customers also observe the precautions.
“We had a training session this morning,” he told The Corkman on Monday.
The one concern that won’t go away is the fear that local tourism and customers can’t make up for the loss of overseas visitors: “We’re really talking about the write off of the entire 2020 season for overseas visitors,” he said
He said he recognised that an effort was being made by Fáilte Ireland and other authorities concerned with tourism to generate ‘staycation’ business, but it was too early to say if this would be in any way successful.
“I’m looking forward to reopening – it’s going to have to happen sooner or later.”