Businesses bounce back... ... and one that can’t
THE residents of Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, are currently the only people in the British Isles who can enjoy a pint in a pub without a meal.
Its bars and restaurants have been able to reopen because there is no strict twometre social distancing rule in place.
However, patrons will still find their night out very different to the normal experience of a local bar.
Guernsey has found a way to reopen for business despite the pandemic threat by categorising its pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, cafes and other traders as ‘controlled environments’.
This means that anyone who uses their services must be prepared to give their name and contact details.
In the event that they are later diagnosed with coronavirus, public health officials will more easily be able to track down anyone who may have come into contact with them and advise them to self-isolate.
Some premises take the details at the door, others at the table or bar before people are served.
The vigorous test and trace scheme has helped the island get closer to normality much faster than other parts of the UK.
Similar ‘controlled environments’ also operate in New Zealand, alongside physical distancing of one metre.
Pub operators believe a similar approach in Scotland could allow the two-metre social distancing rule to be reduced and for more premises to be able to open.
Graeme Arnott is director of Edinburghbased Caledonian Heritable, one of the biggest independent pub and restaurant operators in the country.
He said: ‘If labelling the licensed trade as “controlled environments” were included in the upcoming government guidelines for the industry, this would give the responsibility back to business owners to ensure staff and customer safety and allow them to track and trace customers through a number of different methods.’
He believes the ‘common sense’ approach can protect the industry from further damage as it enters the next phase of easing lockdown.
He said: ‘We are suggesting measures to keep people safe, whilst being more attainable and easy to maintain within the restaurant and pub environment. It is crucial this is examined if we are to have a sustainable business and economy to rebuild following this pandemic.’
JULY 1 should have been the day that Vikki and Craig Wood were waiting for – when they could finally reopen the doors of their family-run restaurants in Edinburgh and Fife.
But the award-winning Wee Restaurant, in North Queensferry, and its offshoot in the capital, will remain closed – despite the proposals to ease curbs on hospitality firms.
The two sites can usually each cater for 40 guests at a time. But this would fall to only eight to 12 under two-metre social distancing.
So they intend to continue operating as a food delivery business – and will also open a lobster takeaway service from their North Queensferry restaurant from today.
After changing their business model to survive, they desperately want ministers to let them to bring diners back into their premises.
Mrs Wood said: ‘You can’t run a restaurant, pay staff, pay suppliers and pay for everything else you need to pay for with eight people at a time.
It is just not viable. Our staff are on furlough at the moment and we would like to get them back but we just can’t do it with a two-metre rule.’
If distancing was cut to one metre, it would allow around 30 customers at a time at the two restaurants, meaning they could reopen.
Mrs Wood said that with the country facing an ‘economic disaster’, more effort should be made to allow firms to resume more usual trading.
‘When we heard we were going to go into lockdown, we had a day of panic,’ she said. ‘And then, the very next day, we started our delivery service. We realised that, with cash flow being quite hard for this industry, we couldn’t even really take a week where no cash was coming in.’
But she added: ‘We really want to get back to opening our restaurants, seeing people face-toface… and, most importantly, get our staff back. But at the moment we can’t do that.’