Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Pub to open at weekends only as rules remain
THE owners of a rural Somerset pub are now opening at weekends only due to the delay in relaxing coronavirus restrictions until at least July 19.
It means that pubs will continue to be limited in the number of people they can serve due to the need for tables to remain socially distanced and to limit group sizes.
The ongoing restrictions and the new delay have been a thorn in the side of hospitality businesses, with one pub owner saying they have been left in a “dire” situation by the limitations.
Lori Toms, who runs the Strawberry Special in Draycott, near Cheddar, with her husband Mike, said they were “not happy” about the delay and that they have been reduced to opening at weekends only due to the drop-off in trade.
She also said that if there were further delays to lockdown, they would be faced with the question of whether it would be viable to keep the pub running at all.
She said: “We’re not happy about it – people obviously need to stay healthy, but our businesses need to stay healthy as well.
“We obviously want to be part of keeping our guests and the community safe, but hospitality has been hit harder than anyone.
“There was the shutdown, then the curfew, then the Scotch egg rule – all these rules that have just been happening to pubs and hospitality places.
“We are marginally lucky in that we have a freehold so we don’t need to worry about rents which so many pubs do on top of everything else, but we’ve decided to only open on weekends now.
“If we opened midweek now, I would say we would get between two and four customers – we’re losing money by opening the doors, it’s that dire.
“We’re still doing Friday evening takeaways but even with that numbers are down.
“We still can’t do skittles or anything like that because of the restrictions and that was what got a lot of people in during the week as well – we don’t know if that will happen this year at all now because teams are pulling out.
“If this carries on for too much longer, I don’t know whether it will be viable to open the doors at all.”
Lori also harbours concerns about how long it will take to rebuild confidence among the public once the final lifting of lockdown comes.
She said that people will still be cautious about stepping out and going to places like pubs for a while, and that finding ways to attract customers and give them confidence will be a big part of the coming weeks.
She said: “People just aren’t coming out enough – I know we’re a country pub so it’s naturally a bit trickier but we’re not getting the support from the community.
“I think people are still cautious about coming out and it will take time – I don’t blame them for that at all, safety is the most important thing, but it’s the truth.
“Even when people are ‘going out’, so many people have got their own little man caves or bars at home because of lockdown, so they’re often not going to a pub. We’re doing all we can to support the community but we need them to reciprocate but it will take time to rebuild that confidence again, it won’t all go back to what it used to be the moment the green light comes.
“Obviously the number one objective is to make sure people are safe and feel safe and welcome, but we are in a precarious position and the second priority for us has to be the business.
“I think we will come out the other side of this, the question we will just have to answer is whether it’s all worth it and if we want to keep running a pub after it.
“But I’m just looking forward to the day when I can take the mask off, take the screens off the bar and peel the social distancing stickers off the floor.”
We would get between two and four customers – we’re losing money by opening the doors LORI TOMS