Covid in Wales: New rules cause confusion and empty pubs

Bar owners are having difficulty enforcing the new rules, with one saying footfall has dropped by at least 50%

New rules for hospitality in Wales have left some customers confused while others stayed away, said bar owners.

Since 26 December, two-metre social distancing returned in Wales, along with mask wearing, table service and contact tracing.

Groups have also been limited to a maximum of six people, to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

One bar owner said it's been a "nightmare" trying to enforce the new rules as many people just aren't aware.

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"A lot people have just given up watching TV at this rate, and they just don't realise [the new rules] have come in," said Joann Cooney, owner of The Irish bar in Llandudno, Conwy.

"It's just been a bit of a nightmare that way, and just controlling people it was just really hard, and it definitely wasn't a busy as it usually would be."

Boxing day '50% down'

Joann Cooney says many customers don't realise masks are now mandatory in pubs, so she had to turn them away

"Boxing Day is always a great day, everyone walking around having a bit of banter at the bar, and we couldn't have that, it was just really difficult.

"We were definitely at least over 50% down, because it's usually normally busy with live music and everything, it's normally a great atmosphere."

Ms Cooney thinks in addition to the new restrictions, people are staying home because they are "frightened" of the new variant.

Mr Beynon says he conforms to every rule - yet there are always new ones to adhere to

"What you've got to realise is that to put table service on, that's extra work, but you're not getting extra money for it," said Dai Beynon, owner of Pontarddulais Workingmens Club.

He thinks clubs like his need to have more staff on shift to collect track and trace information, as well as providing table service.

Mr Beynon added: "In hospitality everyone's doing their best to keep order, two metres apart, etc, and yet we're persecuted time after time."

When he announced the new restrictions last week, First Minister Mark Drakeford warned of "a wave of infections caused by the new, fast-moving and very-infectious Omicron".

On Christmas Eve, the last day data was published, 6,755 new Covid cases were reported by Public Health Wales, the highest figure since the start of the pandemic.

Phil Ash represents west Conwy Pubwatch, which has around 120 pubs as members

Phil Ash, a bar owner who also represents west Conwy Pubwatch, has said the amount of restrictions in place in Wales is "unfair".

"I do get it, to a point, its just we've had the hardest restrictions out of the four nations, once again," he said.

"Us in wales have had to have more restrictions put on us than the other three nations, which is a bit unfair."

Mr Ash also thinks its getting increasingly hard to implement the restrictions with customers.

More customers 'exempt' from wearing masks

"Yesterday people were turning up and they didn't know that there were new rules in place, which made it ten times harder for us to police.

He said more people now claim they are exempt from wearing face coverings, and enforcing rules is tricky "especially when people have had alcohol, then they're not as willing to abide by them".

The Welsh government said a total of £120m will be made available for nightclubs, retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses.

However, Mr Ash said the money may be too late, as businesses need the support now.

"It will help when we get it, [but] we won't get the money until the end of January, which doesn't help with the loss of trade in December," he said.

"Also, we don't know what it's going to be like between now and when we get that money at the end of January."