LISTEN: Hospitality sector penalised despite playing by the rules, business owner claims

By Rebecca Black, PA

Restaurateurs feel they are being penalised despite playing by the rules, a business owner has said.

Stormont leaders took the decision to close cafes, bars and restaurants as part of a circuit-break lockdown aimed at halting the rise in cases of Covid-19.

The evidence the decision was based on states the closure of hospitality is likely to have a “moderate impact” – reducing the virus reproduction rate (R number) by between 0.1 and 0.2.

It referenced multiple “anecdotal reports” of outbreaks linked to bars in the UK and beyond.

Speaking for the sector as a whole, Hospitality Ulster has said the evidence shows it is “not a major spreader of the Covid-19 virus”.

Chief executive Colin Neill said: “We feel like our industry has been vilified, but now when the evidence is published, it clearly states that the closure of the hospitality sector will have 0.1-0.2 impact on the R number and that the lockdown has been brought about to ensure behavioural and policy compliance in other areas.

Colin Neill

“The claims and statements in the document published are broad and sweeping and we need to get to the bottom of some of the assertions.

“We recognise that people are doing a really tough job and that each risk removed helps to bring down the R number to below 1, but this is a deeply worrying development and we must now seek clarity from the health minister about the formula behind the numbers and work with the Executive to develop a plan for reopening the sector now that it has been presented that hospitality is not the problem.”

Mr Neill said the sector “cannot endure the extension of the current four-week closure or get into a stop-start situation as we are now facing the end of our industry as we know it”.

Emma Bricknell, owner of Made in Belfast, said she and other business owners have been selling off property and vehicles to keep their heads above water.

Emma Bricknell

She owns three restaurants in Belfast and employs around 60 people.

She told the PA news agency: “It’s completely ridiculous, they have killed the industry.

“We paid lots of money out for all the screens and personal protective equipment (PPE), trained our staff and did risk assessments. We were playing by the rules, people felt safer than they did at supermarkets.

“Yet now we are being penalised.

“They (Stormont) have killed the city centre.”

Ms Bricknell said now people are buying alcohol in supermarkets and gathering in homes, instead of being in a monitored environment such as pubs and restaurants.

She added that she now fears bankruptcy, following the impact of being closed for four months during the initial lockdown.

“We’re done, I fear losing the company now. We have very little money to pay wages, can’t pay suppliers… it is a living nightmare,” she said.