Covid-19: NI hospitality frustrated at bank holiday closures

Some businesses closed their outdoors areas days after lockdown restrictions eased

Hospitality owners who had to close their businesses due to the weather just days after reopening have said they are "frustrated" at the enforcement of Stormont guidelines.

Restaurants, bars and pubs reopened for outdoor service on Friday.

However, adverse weather on Monday's bank holiday meant some businesses could not open outdoor areas.

Stormont has said the regulations are the same as those applied last year when the first lockdown ended.

The Department of Health said the general rule of thumb was that outdoor premises should not be more than 50% enclosed.

On Friday, industry body Hospitality Ulster said that the majority of hospitality businesses had failed last-minute inspections to reopen.

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Some venues made last-minute adjustments to bring outdoor areas into line with regulations.

This allowed venues to reopen from Friday, but in some cases the alterations made some outdoor areas unsuitable for poor weather.

'Invested heavily'

Gareth Murphy, owner of Belfast bar Cargo, said it was not feasible to open his outdoor areas in the heavy rain.

"We invested heavily in creating covered and protected dining areas, heated pods, ski gondalas and marquees," he said.

"Two days before we opened we made significant alterations to expose them to the outdoor elements to comply with regulations."

Mr Murphy described his frustration at not being able to trade after reopening for the first time in five months.

Many businesss adapted their outdoor areas to comply with regulations from the executive

He said he will have to rectify the alterations he made to make his business compliant with Covid-19 regulations when indoor hospitality is allowed to resume on 24 May.

"We've had three failed reopenings in the hospitality sector and we've had negligible engagement from the executive," he said.

"They told us they'd give us a roadmap out of this, what we got was barriers.

"Common sense has to prevail here."

'Enforcement not engagement'

Michael Cafolla, cafe owner and member of the Institute of Hospitality, said the Northern Ireland Executive guidelines have led to confusion.

"The regulations they're referring to is when indoor hospitality was also open at the same time last year, and we don't have indoor so we've had to adapt to this 50% rule for outdoor and that's what's caused confusion," he said.

He said the biggest frustration is "the way it's been enforced".

"The engagement isn't there but enforcement is there and it's too late for many businesses to make those adjustments," he said.

"Businesses have had to invest in making those adjustments to make their business viable for less than three weeks and then revert back to putting them the way they were."

Indoor hospitality businesses will be able to reopen on 24 May

He said customers can expect to pay increased prices for food and drink as business begin to reopen.

"We've invested heavily in stock, staff and training so the industry will be competitive in terms of offering value for money, exemplary service and sanitised safe conditions for people to come into," he said.

"The majority of operators are out to claw back some of the money they've lost with the enforced closures.

"A lot of small businesses have built up a lot of debt and want to start generating cash flow.

"What we're looking for is support, encouragement and meaningful engagement that we haven't had."

'No change to regulations'

The Department of Health said "the definition of enclosed and substantially enclosed comes from the smoke-free legislation from 2007 and is directly referenced in the restriction regulations".

"This was the same definition that was in place since last July and is not part of the recent amendments which will allow outdoor hospitality to open from 30 April," a spokesperson added.

The legislation states that a premises is enclosed if it has a ceiling or roof.

It continues to say that a premises is substantially enclosed if it has a ceiling or roof but there is "an opening in the walls".

Junior minister in the Executive Office, Gordon Lyons, told the assembly on Tuesday that there had been an issue of messaging.

Mr Lyons said the executive should be "flexible" and try to amend the coronavirus regulations.

"If possible the executive should be flexible in relation to that in the future. That will require the amending of those regulations and I personally think it is something we should look at," he said.

He said he wanted to get indoor and outdoor dining back "as soon as possible".