The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Pubs face 10pm curfew.
Fears home drinking will rise as restrictions impact on pub opening hours
With a curfew coming into place from Friday for pubs and restaurants across Scotland, and workers told to stay at home where possible, local businesses have expressed fears that this will only lead to a rise in the number of illegal house parties.
After the once unthinkable happened in March, when hospitality businesses across Scotland and the rest of the UK were ordered to shut their doors completely, it seemed things could only get better when they were finally allowed to reopen in July.
The Eat Out to Help Out scheme launched by the UK Government to encourage people back into local restaurants, cafés and bars, brought a boost to some, but not all, in August.
The need for one-metre social distancing and table-only service has reduced capacity in venues, and for most it has not been an easy road.
City centre businesses, in particular, have been adversely affected by continued absence of office workers – now, with work at home being encouraged for up to another six months, there is little hope of those regular customers returning any time soon.
Yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced Scotland would be moving in line with England by introducing a 10pm curfew in bars and restaurants from Friday in an effort to prevent a further surge in coronavirus cases.
Nationwide additional restrictions will also be put in place in homes, with indoor gatherings between households no longer permitted anywhere in Scotland. In bars and restaurants, up to six people can meet from up to two households, under the recently announced “rule of six”.
But further restrictions on how we socialise mean business keeps getting tougher for the hospitality industry. In response, the Scottish Tourism Alliance has called for the government furlough scheme to be extended beyond October, and for the temporarily reduced VAT rate of 5% for hospitality businesses to be continued not just into next year but “for the long term”.
Local businessman Jimmy Marr, who owns several pubs and restaurants in Dundee – including the Taybridge Bar on Perth Road, and Harlequins on Albert Street, 172 at The Caird on Perth Road, and Nicolls on Commercial Street – fears resulting job losses could be heavy when the government’s furlough scheme comes to an end next month.
But rather than limiting opportunity for the virus to spread, he suspects that with a curfew in place some will abandon going to bars altogether in favour of throwing house parties where, though illegal, there would be no restrictions in place.
He said: “You might get people drinking earlier by imposing a curfew, but young people are going to go home with drink from supermarkets and it’s going to create more house parties.
“That’s going to be a real problem. Some young people won’t go to pubs, they’ll just go to parties instead. You see that already with students in St Andrews – it’s rife.”
On Monday it emerged four St Andrews University students had tested positive for Covid-19 after an illegal freshers week party in a hall of residence.
By limiting time spent in pubs, Mr Marr believes that trade – already down 50% in his pubs – will be further hit, and he wants to see the furlough scheme extended for the hospitality industry.
He added: “A lot of my older customers going to the community pubs are frightened to go out and it’s really, really hard. When furlough ends at the end of October I think there’s going to be a lot of job losses.
“I don’t want to see pubs shutting, but if they could extend furlough past October it would be a help. I would rather keep pubs open because once doors close it’s hard to get them open again.
“I’d be hopeful customers will come earlier, but my gut feeling is that trade is going to drop further. Our pubs are down 50% on what they were doing before lockdown.
“Curfew could mean some bars will close but if people are going to pubs there are regulations in place, staff have masks, there’s hand sanitiser, distancing and customers are wearing masks when they get up to go to the toilet. That’s not happening at house parties.”
Graeme Gersok, proprietor of the Townhouse Hotel in Arbroath – which has a lively bar and restaurant trade – has been operating its own curfew at his premises for the past six weeks.
He said: “On August 7 we drew it back to 9pm, we were locking the door then. We didn’t throw anyone out but if you were in at that point you got to stay, but if you were out you didn’t get in.
“We are used to it and, to be honest, any responsible operator would be doing the same thing. I kind of agree with it.
“SixweeksagoIfeltitwasagoodmove to protect the public health and now it is a level playing field for everyone.
“It hasn’t made much difference to us – because we weren’t letting people in after that point it didn’t really make much difference. In fact, people gained a little bit more confidence – particularly in the evening it gave older people more confidence to come and visit us, safe in the knowledge that no one was having a pub crawl and dropping in to us.
“The first minister has made it 10pm when you have to be out, so we will probably continue with our 9pm locking the door and we will let everyone drink until quarter to 10 – whatever the detail is we will just follow it.”
Stephen Montgomery, spokesman for the Scottish Hospitality Group, says that the curfew will have a massively detrimental effect on businesses, many of which are already struggling badly.
Some young people will not go to pubs, they’ll just go to house parties. You see that already with students in St Andrews. BUSINESSMAN JIMMY MARR