PUBS ON ICE
Pubs dealt a hammer blow by decision to keep them closed until August 10
PUBLICANS had been preparing for weeks to reopen their premises on Monday as Phase 4 of the lockdown easing was due to kick in but now they will have to put the champagne set aside for their grand opening on ice a little longer.
The Government’s decision on Wednesday evening, just before The Corkman went to press, prompted a reaction of disappointment but acceptance among the publicans to whom we spoke.
“We’re very disappointed as we had been very much looking forward to meeting our customers again – they had a great appetite to come back,” said Evelyn O’Donovan, proprietor of The Olde Fiddle in Mallow.
Meanwhile, Michael Scanlon of Scanlon’s Bar in Newmarket, said he’s very disappointed.
“I think the rural areas are being lumped in with the large urban areas where these clusters are occurring ... it’s unfair to penalise us because of what’s happening in Dublin,”
PUBLICANS had been preparing for weeks to reopen their premises on Monday as Phase 4 of the reemergence from lockdown was due to commence but now they will have to put the champagne set aside for their grand opening on ice for a little longer.
The Government’s decision on Wednesday evening, just before The Corkman went to press, prompted a reaction of disappointment but acceptance among the publicans to whom we spoke.
“We’re very disappointed as we had been very much looking forward to meeting our customers again – they had a great appetite to come back,” said Evelyn O’Donovan, proprietor of The Olde Fiddle in Mallow. “But we have been following the guidelines for the sake of our health all along – and we’ll keep following them.”
There was a strong smell of fresh paint as the premises had got a glossy green coat to mark the reopening – but by the time the pub will now reopen that smell should have abated!
Other publicans we spoke to were similarily disappointed and a little frustrated as they felt that pubs in rural areas and towns were paying the price for the fears of a greater outbreak of the virus in the cities, where there had been issues the first weekend after restaurants and bar restaurants reopened.
Michael and John Scanlon, Scanlon’s Bar, Newmarket:
The Scanlon Family who have been in business at Church St., Newmarket since 1976 were also preparing for reopening and had all the recommended protocols in place already.
“We’re very disappointed but I saw this coming, especially when we were getting no guidelines during the past week,” said Michael. “I think the rural areas are been lumped in with the large urban areas where these clusters are occurring. All our customers are local, we know them, we would have very little passing trade and no tourists, so it’s unfair to penalise us because of what’s happening in Dublin.
“Also, I think that we should have been left reopen the same time as the pubs that serve food”.
“We’re very lucky here in that we’re all right for space but the 2m or 1m distancing guidelines will be crucial, especially for bars in the smaller towns where publicans know all their customers, it will be very hard to tellone of their regulars that they can’t come in, the Bar is full” John said.
“People are really looking forward to coming in and having a chat and a pint and we all want to be opened, but you have to make a living, so hopefully the distancing will be reduced to 1m. It will be great to see people coming back in and enjoying themselves.
“However, it’s an incredibly sad time for some Publicans who have decided not to reopen, it’s a sad way to finish” he said.
Ned Barrett, Barrett’s Bar, Kanturk:
“I was hopeful but dreading this all day - that we would get this news, it’s devastating really for businesses and especially for genuine customers who like to come out and meet people in the Pub.
“I definitely think that 99% of Publicans would adhere to the regulations and most customers would comply, like the did with the Smoking ban.
“I’m just hoping we are not heading into another complete lockdown”.
“I’m lucky in that one of my customers is a Health & Safety Officer, so he’s given me great guidelines on how to prepare for reopening. We have all the required Sanitisers and Signage in place but I’m hoping the social distancing requirement will be reduced to 1m. However, I have plenty of space out at the back of the Bar so I can extend if I have to” Ned said.
Over the past four months, running his Off Licence adjacent to the Bar has kept Ned going. “It was great really” he said, “I was able to meet my regular customers, fair play to them, they continued to support me instead of going to the big stores” he noted.
However, Ned is adamant that the time off was not a waste. “We saw another side of life during lockdown, we had a bit of downtime to appreciate the simple things in life such as taking walks out in nature. It was lovely to see families enjoying time off together, I know people had a difficult time but that was the positive side of it” he said.
Going forward, Ned says he will continue to carve out some free time for himself and cut back somewhat on his long working hours.
However, he was really looking forward to opening the doors to the public on Monday. “I can’t wait to get back, my customers are also my friends, they are the salt of the earth” he said.
Billy Murphy, Murphy’s Bar, Boherbue:
On St. Patrick’s Day, the Corkman arranged to photograph Billy Murphy in his empty Bar in Boherbue, on what should have been one of the busiest days in the year. Two days before that, on March 15th, all Pubs were ordered to close due to the Virus. Fast forward four months and Billy was getting ready to reopen until the news broke on Wednesday evening that the lockdown would be continuing for a further three weeks.
“I don’t think there will be any major rush to the pubs, I don’t think it’s looking great. The pub trade was not going too well anyway, it has not been a booming trade for a while.
We’re hoping for the best, but it’s going to be hard for Pubs to stay open” he said.
While Billy is lucky in that his Bar is quite large, he thinks that many Pubs will lose at least 10% of customers due to the social distancing measures. “For many that will be the final straw, it won’t be viable for them to remain open” he said. “The Government needs to do something about rates and insurance to limit the fallout from this” he said.