Just what the Doc ordered
Taranaki man Doc Brown ended a nine-week beer drought when his local pub was finally able to open yesterday.
Brown, who usually has a beer every day, had decided to see how long he could last without having a sip during lockdown.
‘‘I said I’d go as long as the shutdown happens and then I’d go back to the pub and have a beer.’’
He said it was great to be back at his local, Oakura’s Butlers Reef, while supporting a local business at the same time.
‘‘It’s great because I’m back with all my friends.’’
Yesterday, bars, clubs and wine bars whose main purpose is to serve drinks, not food, were able to operate for the first time under level 2 Covid-19 guidelines.
Bars have to follow the same guidelines set out for cafe´s and restaurants, which were allowed to open a week ago, in that all customers need to be seated, served and separated – otherwise known as the three S’s.
That was no problem for
Brown, who was seated by the window. ‘‘Anything you can do to help out,’’ he said.
Butlers Reef general manager Leeana Hughes said the bar had been busy since opening for business again.
‘‘Normally I don’t get behind the bar but the last hour was just full on,’’ she said as people stopped in after finishing work.
‘‘There are our normal Thursday night drinkers and it’s just great because we didn’t even need to explain the rules: they knew what to do straight away and went and got a table.’’
Hughes said they opened the restaurant part of the bar last Thursday for dining with the full bar opening yesterday. ‘‘It feels awesome,’’ she said. To follow the three S’s they moved pool tables to put more seating in the bar.
‘‘We’ve got the room to do it, luckily.
‘‘So really the only difference for us was removing the pool tables and limiting the amount of people going out on to our smoking deck.’’
Westown bar Nag n Noggin was also busy by 5.30pm.
Extra staff were helping serve seated punters but general manager Maxine Pryor said the biggest test was yet to come.
‘‘We’re having to have extra staff on but Friday and Saturday are going to be the big days,’’ she said.