Colin Neill, Chief Executive of Hospitality Ulster
We hoped that today would have been the day we saw the vast majority of the hospitality sector back on its feet again, albeit restricted by social distance guidelines. We knew some would have struggled to open, as they simply don’t have the space, and that others unfortunately were unable to make it this far.
However, late last week we got the news we hoped we would not hear - that the indicative date for the reopening of traditional non-food pubs has been delayed once again.
I’ve been on hundreds of phone calls, zoom calls and meetings with publicans devastated that they have to hold back from turning the taps on once again.
For them, it has been a very long and hard six months. Despite their colleagues being open since the start of July, they are as perplexed as anyone as to why food with a pint seems to be ok over simply having a pint despite adhering to the same rules and guidance.
Yes, support had been offered at the start of the lockdown phase and the furlough scheme was availed of, but small grants run out quickly in this game and furlough doesn’t last forever. Bills for non-food serving bars can easily stack up to a thousand pounds a week, not to mention all the screening and additional works that many undertook some time ago in the hope that the virus lockdown would have eased by now.
There is an abandonment of hope. That is why the Executive needs to step in as soon a possible to stave off a catastrophe in our sector. The immediate support must be given to publicans and business owners to help save their staff from having to be made redundant. We are talking thousands of staff, full and part time, who need to pay their mortgages, feed and clothe their families and live fulfilling lives.
The hospitality sector is the backbone of our tourism economy and is always talked up by our Executive Ministers. We need them to step in and save our pubs. An investment now will go some way to arrest the significant impact of financial destruction, loss of employment and fears of an increased claimant count.
We’ve called for greater powers of enforcement against those who flout the rules, we’ve called for a tightening of the guidance to be strengthened by legislation and we’ve reiterated time and again that the sector is taking public health and hygiene very seriously.
There needs to be recognition that we are going the whole nine yards and not be unnecessarily penalised without an evidence base to support the reason why our traditional pubs still cannot open. The NI Executive must settle on a date and provide financial support to keep the sector afloat until that time.