Publicans’ anger as bar gets shut down
THERE’S been an angry reaction to the latest pub closures in lockdown Llanelli.
“Our reputation is ruined, people have been slamming us and I don’t know how we’ll come back from this,” said Nigel Brain, who along with his partners Nigel Morgan and Lisa Evans run the South Star pub in Llanelli.
The pub was given a 14-day closure notice on Friday after enforcement officers said that those responsible for the pub had breached coronavirus regulations.
Alongside hundreds of other establishments, including Swiss Valley’s Tafarn y Felin, which was also handed a closure notice, council officials visited the South Star near Bigyn last Thursday.
The pub managers say the inspection seemed to go well and that the officers had said some minor details needed changing but that everything seemed above board.
“They visited us and said that we needed a bigger notice on the toilet to say it was one in one out, we needed stickers outside the door for anyone queuing to get in, and that we needed to rewrite the risk assessment,” said Lisa Evans.
The managers say that these three changes were made ready for the pub to open on Friday and that the risk assessment was filled out while enforcement officers were still there, but they were issued with a closure notice at 4.30pm the next day.
“I was standing outside when someone from the council turned up and stuck those closure notices on the door and I just couldn’t believe it,” said Nigel Brain, 56.
“The day before, I literally said to the two officers that we’re here, is there anything more I can do, is there anything that needs to be done? And they said to us, ‘we think everything looks good here, we commend you’,” he added.
Enforcement officers say the pub was served with the notice after breaching regulations, including controlling the use of entrances, passageways, stairs and lifts, controlling the use of toilets and collecting information from each person.
The managers say they were told that they needed a person manning the toilet and the door and that the risk assessment also needed to be rewritten despite officers being at the pub as it was written.
“They said we were understaffed when there is usually three or four of us here who can see exactly who is coming in and out. We then go over to do the track and trace and they said that there were no problems with it on the Thursday they were here,” said the managers.
“We wouldn’t take any risks. We know every single person who comes in here and we wouldn’t risk
their safety – we care about them, we have a lot of older gentlemen who come here,” added manager Nigel Morgan.
The pub voluntarily closed earlier this month after a visitor tested positive for Covid-19.
“A group of people came here and then said they went to a house party after it. They told us that one of them had tested positive and that they think it was from the house party because people from the party had also tested positive,” said Mr Brain.
“After he said that, I closed the pub immediately and told everyone to leave just to safeguard my customers.
“The next morning, I informed the council and Public Health Wales and still to this day not one of my customers has been contacted by track and trace,” he added.
“We contacted some of our customers ourselves because we know they are vulnerable, we booked tests for some of them.”
A regular of the pub, who did not wish to be named, said he had not been contacted by track and trace even though the pub had been linked to a positive case.
“I still haven’t heard from them, but because my wife is vulnerable, they contacted me and booked a coronavirus test,” said the punter.
“They’ve been really strict about the regulations at the pub, I felt very safe there. There is no way I would go there and risk taking something home to my wife if I didn’t.”
The managers say that while financially the closure will be a struggle, the biggest blow has been to their reputation.
Nigel Brain and Nigel Morgan say they believe that the pub has been used as a scapegoat.
“They wanted to make an example out of someone and use us as a scapegoat. We have been ridiculed, bashed, called disgusting, everything,” said the pair.
“Lee Waters named us as one of the causes of the outbreak in Llanelli and Emlyn Dole said the same, and to this day we still haven’t had one member of staff or customer that has confirmed to have tested positive from here.”
The pair both have fulltime jobs outside of the pub, which they along with Lisa took over two and a half years ago. They say that the attention has had a negative impact on their outside professions.
Nigel Morgan works fulltime for the NHS and said: “People know I run this place as well so I have had three of my colleagues put in complaints and say they don’t want to work with me. It is actually crazy.”
“One of our regulars has had three jobs cancelled recently because his customers knew that he drank here. We’ve been slaughtered and I feel like a mug,” said Mr Brain.
The managers say they believe that the incident will discourage other landlords from coming
forward with positive cases in case they are later handed closure notices.
News of the closure has also had a knock-on effect for the adjoining South Star café which is usually a popular eatery for Sunday dinner.
On Sunday, 70-80 guests were booked in for a meal at the business and only 14 turned up.
“We’ve been slaughtered and ripped apart but honestly tried all we could to do everything right.”
“It’s our reputation, we are ruined. I think we are going to struggle to come back from this,” added the managers.
A spokesman for Carmarthenshire Council said: “We have taken robust action to enable the landlord to correct the shortfalls that have been identified. We do not take these decisions lightly but need to ensure customers are kept safe.
“We will continue to work with the South Star to ensure remedial action takes place.”