Hospitality: Plea to allow outdoor seating after Gwynedd Council ban

Marquees have been in place on parking spaces since June 2020

A petition calling for outdoor dining to be allowed to continue in a town has received more than 1,000 signatures.

Marquees have been built across seven car parking spaces and one side street outside restaurants in Dolgellau during Covid restrictions.

But now Gwynedd council has ordered them to stop the use of the spaces from 1 September.

The council said street closures were temporary and it would be arranging meetings to discuss concerns.

Outdoor seating has been the norm since the beginning of the pandemic but, since social distancing laws ended on 7 August, it is down to individual businesses to decide their own rules after risk assessments.

Marquees have been present outside the Unicorn pub and Sosban restaurant since June last year to allow them to run with limited capacity inside.

But businesses are now expected make full use of their indoor facilities.

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Llinos Rowlands wants outdoor dining to continue

The new 'cafe culture'

One cafe-bar and wine shop in the town said having the outdoor spaces was "absolutely fantastic".

Llinos Rowlands, of Gwin Dylanwad Wine, said receiving a letter a week ago from the council to remove their marquee was "short notice, especially during our busiest time".

She is calling for its decision to be reversed.

"I think people are loving it… they feel safer but also they like the cafe culture."

"I would like to see this continue until next year and then I'd like to see a review of outside seating generally in the town to make it a more pleasant place to be in," she said.

There are approximately 35 parking spaces in the centre of town with a time limit of an hour between 09:00 and 18:00.

This allows 315 individual parking slots a day in the centre if drivers adhere to the times, according to Ms Rowlands.

The seating taking up one side street is "not passable with a car," Ms Rowlands says

What has the council said?

A Gwynedd council spokesperson said street closures to allow businesses to operate under Covid-19 guidelines were temporary.

"Despite complaints from members of the public and some businesses, a decision was taken at that time to keep the street closure orders in place for an extended period over the summer holidays to support Gwynedd's local hospitality sector.

"With the school holidays coming to an end, following careful consideration, it has been decided that now is the correct time to contact businesses to request that they remove their facilities from the public highway."

"We have been made aware by Dolgellau councillors that this decision has resulted in a number of concerns being voiced locally about the potential impact on hospitality businesses in the town. On the request of the council leader, councillor Dyfrig Siencyn, we will be arranging a meeting with local representatives over the coming days to discuss these concerns."

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