Cafes to adapt to stricter restrictions
CAFE owners across the city have expressed their commitment to the safety of their customers and staff ahead of stricter lockdown restrictions.
While some restaurants and cafes are ready to adjust to the new guidance, others have decided to close.
Willow Grove Coffee has been operating from a doorway since the first lockdown eased and owner Adele McPhee said: “It made us feel more comfortable and safe so we just assumed it would make our customers feel the same also.”
From Saturday customers will no longer be allowed to go inside premises to collect takeaway food and coffee – with businesses only allowed to serve punters through a hatch or doorway.
Willow Grove has seen a lot of “neighbourhood traffic” in recent weeks but it is “nothing to what it would be if they could open fully”.
“We are just managing in a bad situation,” Ms McPhee said.
Speaking of the stricter restrictions, she added: “I understand it is going to be really difficult for a lot businesses to work that way, I just have to be selfless.”
However, Primal Roast on St Vincent Street has not reopened since Christmas since 80% of its customers have been working from home. Owner Iain Walker said takeaway traffic was too slow to stay open during lockdown but added the restriction changes are “pretty big for a lot of businesses”.
“Lockdown has affected us quite badly. We have been fighting to stay open since April but at the moment with the restrictions it’s just not viable [to open].”
His brother has now also closed his business to “avoid being part of the problem”. think we
“He was noticing groups of adults and sometimes children congregating outside the shop, mingling more than the two household limit,” Mr Walker said.
A supervisor at a popular city cafe, who preferred to stay anonymous, said: “As of Saturday we will be shut and ultimately we have mixed feelings about it.
“On the one hand we are happy to follow guidance but on another the fact that we have been in and out of lockdown of varying degrees for the past six months has worn a bit thin.”
He added that “a little more consistency” in guidance would have been appreciated.
We just have to be selfless