Covid: Pubs must reopen when safe, says brewery boss

A brewery boss who is in hospital with Covid has called for pubs to only reopen when safe to fully serve people.

Simon Buckley, chairman of the Brewers of Wales, said he had been at "death's door" but was now "on the mend" at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen.

He said pubs must only reopen when it was "the right time" and rules could be properly enforced.

A revised plan out of Wales' lockdown, which began in December, is expected in the next few days.

Before Christmas, pubs, bars and restaurants across Wales were forced to close as "stay at home" lockdown measures were introduced, leaving them able to only sell takeaways.

• Future lockdowns in Wales not ruled out

There have been repeated warnings from the sector about the impact of Covid restrictions on the hospitality and tourism industry, with Brains pubs being taken over after the company came under "significant financial pressure".

Mr Buckley, the owner of Evans-Evans Brewery in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, said while the industry was now desperate to reopen, it should only happen when customers felt safe.

"We have written off tens and tens of thousands of pounds worth of stock because of stop- start... everybody wants a safe environment, but if we are having rules, lets have rules which are enforced," he said.

"We have to get the pubs open but we have to do it at the time and in a place and in a way that makes sense for our consumers."

Mr Buckley spoke as the chairman of JD Wetherspoons said pubs should reopen at the same time as non-essential shops.

Large groups of people visited Cardiff Bay and drank when travel restrictions were eased last year

Speaking on the Jason Mohammad show on BBC Radio Wales, Mr Buckley, who has been in hospital for 13 weeks, said he previously thought he was a "superhero" and immune from Covid.

He said that if pubs were to reopen any time soon, scenes like that in Cardiff city centre in September, where people crowded outside bars and clubs, must not be allowed to happen again.

"I've just been very very lucky... there are people who every day have risked their own life when they were sorting me out," he said.

"People need to understand this is not a joke... and I for one was brazen, I was bold enough to think that I wouldn't get it, I was Mr superhero.

"I was at death's door... had it not been for the nursing staff, the chairman of the Brewers of Wales would not be talking to you today, about rolling out our industry and saving it for the future."

Mr Buckley said the industry had measures in place to keep the public and staff safe and could be reopened successfully, but if people behaved irresponsibly, it could "give us huge problems".

Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have been closed and reopened as lockdown rules changed, with measures introduced including alcohol bans and early closing times.

While the Welsh Government is yet to set out any moves to ease current restrictions, its guidance for alert levels suggests that pubs, bars and restaurants would be allowed to reopen, but initially alcohol sales will be banned and they will have to close at 18:00.

Even at alert level one - the lowest level of restrictions, when cases are at their lowest - they would have to stop serving at 22:00.

Speaking from the hospital, Mr Buckley said the sector must not be placed in a position again where pubs were told to open and then forced to close again, leading to thousands of pounds of food and drink being thrown away.

"What we would ask for is no limited opening hours, no limits on the offer we can make, it's open properly, let us do what we are good at," he said.

"We have to make sure that it is not stop-start, we have to make sure that when we go, we go professionally and properly and the government is behind us, not looking to trip us up at every opportunity."