‘It’s been a brilliant few months. Now it’s up in the air again. Could they not just lock down counties separately?’
GALWAY restaurant, pub and café owners fear their business will struggle to survive another enforced closure.
Natasha Hughes and her partner Nicolas Denis own French restaurant Armorica in Oranmore, Co Galway.
“I think this time it is going to be tougher because when we closed in March, what we were able to do then was stop all our direct debits and pause our rent. That helped us survive,” she said.
“I honestly don’t know how our situation will play out again. And it’s a lot of hassle to stop and start everything again.
“Also, we are doing absolutely everything we can already. Our place is safe and spacious, we have four separate dining rooms, so I don’t think it’s entirely fair that we have to close when you compare us to other venues.
“We have 11 staff and I’m really worried about them. I don’t know if they are going to get the €350 a week – and one of them has twins and is paying a mortgage.”
Natasha says that doing takeaway alone is not an option for them.
“We won’t survive doing takeaway. We are not the right kind of cuisine for takeaway.
“We did click-and-collect for a month before we opened just to reconnect with the community and we only just broke even.
“The cost of doing it is significant and people generally just want pizza and pasta for takeaway.
“But we are going to do it again for the three weeks and see how it goes.
“We are just getting back on our feet and it has been really positive.
“It has actually been a brilliant few months for us here. Now it’s up in the air again. Could they not just lock down the counties separately?”
Chef Nicolas hopes that the Level 3 measures work quickly and allow them to reopen fully for December.
“It’s October and maybe if we have strict measures for a while that might help us save Christmas.
“If it was three weeks it could help, and maybe if they close now rather than December.
“Our staff are really worried I just wish there were clear guidelines because the uncertainty is very difficult.”
Linda Lydon, owner of Brazco Coffee Academy which has two outlets in Oranmore, described the news she is suddenly once again confined to selling takeaways as “unsettling”.
“We closed in March and it was such a harrowing experience. Reopening again was brilliant and we have had amazing support from the community.
“For us, Level 3 and Level 5 is much the same for where we are in hospitality.
“We can put a few seats outside, but that is of no impact really.
“We are defaulting to takeaway now and it is hard but we have to roll with it.
“It has been such a hard year for hospitality. You often get tested in business and this is another major test.”