Angry publicans call for all bars to be treated equally
PUBLICANS and vintners’ groups have called for all bars to be treated the same and be allowed to open in December. Yesterday, reports emerged t hat t he Government is considering pl ans to lift restrictions on the opening of restaurants in early December, but to keep ‘wet pubs’ closed. The Government is set to announce the path ahead out of lockdown this Thursday. Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail yesterday, Daniel Smith, of Grogan’s Castle Lounge in Dublin, said he was ‘disappointed’ and ‘annoyed’ to see reports that once again ‘wet pubs’ may not get to reopen. ‘We’re just fed up,’ he said, adding it is ‘not surprising’. Grogan’s has been closed since the first lockdown in March. Mr Smith said that even if pubs were allowed reopen for Christmas, it won’t be worth their while. ‘We won’t be opening on December 14 to potentially be closed again in January, it’s not worth your while.
‘You are hurting your staff in terms of taking them off the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and then probably having to go back on it,’ he said.
‘It’s not worth it costs-wise in terms of ordering stock and all that. So unless we get a green light next week, it is pretty hard to see opening this side of the new year.
‘This whole leaking and dripfeeding of information is wrong. There should be an announcement made long before Thursday. Places need advance notice to prepare to open.’
Managing director of The
Bridge pub and Lemon and Duke in Dublin, Noel Anderson, also vented his fury at the prospect of wet pubs remaining closed, describing it as ‘mindboggling’ and ‘shocking’.
Mr Anderson said that his pubs will open because they serve food but he added that it ‘feels all wrong’ that pubs that don’t serve food won’t be open.
‘The Government has forced us into survival of the fittest and it’s all wrong. Everyone else is going to get going but these guys are going to be left at the bottom of the heap,’ he said.
Ray Aughey of the Squealing Pig pub in Monaghan said: ‘We all follow the same regulations – screens up, sanitation – there’s no physical difference and I think it would be grossly unfair to let one section open and not the other.’
The Vintners’ Federation of Ireland joined the chorus of calls for all pubs to be treated the same. VFI chief Pádraig Cribben said: ‘It would be crazy to divide us again and it makes no sense given all we have learned about how to manage social distancing in pubs.
Licenced Vintners’ Association chief Donal O’Keeffe said: ‘If current media reports are to be believed, then the Government is gearing up to punish the pubs that have remained closed for the last eight months. If the Government adopts this approach, what they are saying is they don’t trust publicans, pub staff or pub-goers to follow the guidelines. It will be a formal indication from the Government they think of pubs as “lesser”.’
‘Survival of the fittest’