‘Coming back means the world to me’
RESTAURANT owner Yasin Ozkan is one of those preparing to reopen next month.
His family-run Auld Jock’s Kitchen has been open for takeaways but has struggled to make ends meet. Mr Ozkan, 0, has run the business in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket with his wife Ayse, 39, for 19 years. They plan to open their garden to customers on July 6 – but capacity will be just two tables given its small size.
Mr Ozkan said: ‘We are all family members so we couldn’t just furlough staff. It’s been hard.
‘We will wait until we know for certain what we can and can’t do but we will do everything we can to reopen.’
The Hootenanny pub in Glasgow city centre put its ten staff on furlough during lockdown, and now faces cutting capacity and spending thousands of pounds of plastic screens and other social distancing measures.
General manager Andy Fairgrieve, 0, said: ‘This change means we can finally start running the businesses again and pulling together ideas for how we can get back to trading.’
Derek Baillie took over the Brass Monkey bar in Glasgow’s Finnieston in September last year.
He was forced to furlough all five staff members when the pub closed in March, and as a result of social distancing measures the venue’s capacity in its beer garden will drop from around 0 to only 28.
Hairdresser Emma Milne, 3, of Ziggy’s hair salon in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, said: ‘Going back to work means the world to me.
‘My phone hasn’t stopped ringing with people calling trying to get an appointment.’
Rental agency Sykes Holiday Cottages has seen a surge in people looking to book properties for a holiday in Scotland.
And James Fraser, chairman of Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, said there was a ‘spike’ in people calling to book self-catering accommodation in the area following yesterday’s announcement.