With infection rates of Covid-19 staying worryingly high in Northern Ireland, word comes through from government sources that the hospitality industry is unlikely to open up until well into April. This means that pubs, cafes and restaurants are likely to be closed during the Easter break at great financial cost to all the businesses involved.
Concern Over Easing Lockdown Restrictions Too Soon
With the vaccine being rolled out at a pretty fast pace across the UK there is plenty of hope on the horizon that we will see the economy freed up a few months down the line, but there is rightly a concern that bringing Northern Ireland out of lockdown too soon will lead to many more deaths which could have been prevented.
It is believed that ministers are looking to open the schools once more after the half term holidays in February. This will be followed by non-essential shops the following month, restaurants possibly in early April and non-food pubs after the Easter break. But this is not set in stone as there will have to be evidence that infection rates are in decline before any measures are taken to ease restrictions.
Hard To See Restrictions Lifting Before St Patrick`s Day
The chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, Colin Neill, was quoted in Sunday Life yesterday, saying:
“It is hard to see anything open hospitality-wise before St Patrick’s Day.
“Hospitality is being used unfairly as a controllable risk to balance out uncontrollable risks like house parties.
“With a heavy heart we agreed to the latest lockdown, which comes with a high price with businesses never reopening and jobs lost.
“It is now 299 days since Boris Johnson announced the first lockdown and non-food pubs have been open on just 23 of those days.
“This comes against a backdrop of pub and restaurant owners introducing the most effective coronavirus preventive measures out of any business in Northern Ireland.”
Cautious Optimism From Bar Owners
And in the same article Willie Jack, the owner of Belfast’s famous Duke of York and Harp Bar, is quoted:
“The earliest we will be open is the week after Easter, and I’m optimistic about that date due to the vaccine, but it will be limited.
“I had hoped to re-open on March 18, just after St Patrick’s Day, but that is never going to happen now,” Willie told Sunday Life.
“The earliest we will be open is the week after Easter, and I’m optimistic about that date due to the vaccine, but it will be limited.
“It will be on a quiet day midweek, and maybe just in the afternoon. It will not be like when the pubs reopened on a Friday last July, which was madness.”
“The Duke of York and Harp Bar are live music venues and it will be June or July before we even contemplate getting back to that.
“When we do reopen we plan to do it permanently and not have that stop-start nonsense we saw last year with pubs open for a few weeks then shut again.
“I’m sceptical that we will ever see a return to how things were in the Cathedral Quarter with bars and restaurants packed.
“I’m trying not to be negative, but I do worry we won’t be able to get back to that, certainly not until most of the population is vaccinated.”
Looking at the situation with our glass half full (and we would settle for half a glass right now!) the vaccine programme is in full swing with great progress being made. If we can just get through these next few months there really could be good days ahead. But meanwhile if you have a business that is suffering from cash flow problems please get in touch with our offices to see if there is any way we can hep you. Ring our offices on 028 3752 2909.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.