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Scottish pub owners warn businesses won't be viable if restrictions continue

Businesses were initially told the restrictions would likely remain in place for just 16 days - Shutterstock
Businesses were initially told the restrictions would likely remain in place for just 16 days - Shutterstock

Pub owners across Scotland’s central belt have warned that their businesses will no longer be viable if restrictions on hospitality remain in place.

The businesses were initially told the restrictions would likely remain in place for just 16 days, in what was described as a "reset", meaning they could have reopened on Monday.

But Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce on Wednesday that they will be extended for another week, before a new "tiered" system for local lockdowns, which could also mandate the closure of the venues, replaces it in November.

Frank Murphy, owner of family-run Pot Still in Glasgow’s city centre, said he now had “no confidence” that the industry will see restrictions lifted across the country in line with the original timetable.

“We had 48 hours notice of closing, and if we were to reopen on October 26, we now have less than a week’s notice for suppliers to get back into gear and get orders in to reopen. Suppliers who are receiving far less support than even the little we have been promised,” he told the Telegraph.

“The application for grants only went live today, a fortnight after we were closed. And the level of support is derisory. If they want to shut hospitality down, pay our rent and pay our teams; we'll sit on the sidelines until this is over, whenever that is, secure in the knowledge we're not going to lose our jobs, but can also pay our bills.

“But don't blame us for something that's not our doing. The trade has made our venues the safest places a customer could visit. We were the only businesses required to take contact details - which were then used as a stick to beat us with.”

Stephen Montgomery, spokesperson for the Scottish Hospitality Group, has described information as conflicting and support inaccessible  - Stuart Nicol 
Stephen Montgomery, spokesperson for the Scottish Hospitality Group, has described information as conflicting and support inaccessible - Stuart Nicol

The Pot Still has so far managed to survive on a third of its regular capacity and turnover, meaning that the pub wasn’t making a profit but wasn’t losing money either. But with no end to restrictions in sight, Murphy warns that the future of the pub hangs in the balance.

“With no evidence as to what benefit it would serve, they chopped the last two hours of trading off us - the busiest two hours,” he added. “That’s not sustainable. With no end to the increasing ratchet of restrictions in sight, we have to consider if our business, that we built back up into an internationally renowned pub, is a viable business if we have no good news.

“We have to consider our future because the government lies and blames us for others' failures.”

Harry Olorunda, an executive with the popular Vodka Wodka bar in Glasgow’s Ashton Lane, has described the possibility of continued disruption as “another nail in the coffin” of the hospitality industry.

“There are livelihoods at stake now,” he said. “We’re effectively 70 per cent down on what we take anyway, and it’s just not viable. What we’ve been given [in terms of financial support] isn’t enough. We’ve still got rates, bills and rent to pay. What’s going to happen is hospitality businesses won’t survive.”

“Pubs and restaurants have been scapegoated,” he added. “There’s some sort of prohibition in terms of hospitality; there seems to be a full-scale war against alcohol. The SNP have a thing about alcohol. But a war against alcohol is a war against hospitality.

Malcolm Duck, owner of Ducks Inn in Aberlady, East Lothian, questioned why there hasn’t been a targeted approach to pubs not following Covid guidelines as opposed to blanket closures.

“It’s classic state-control and taking the easy option,” he said. “I really wish Nicola Sturgeon would stop saying she understands how hard it is. Repay your salary for the last six months and then say how tough it is. She hasn’t got a clue how tough it is.”

It comes as the Scottish Hospitality Group (SHG) called for urgent clarity from the Scottish Government on current financial support, which it claims is “a postcode lottery and spreading alarm, mass confusion and disbelief” across Scottish businesses.

The current funding offer is “nowhere near enough, while grants need to be fit for purpose”, said SHG spokesperson and landlord Stephen Montgomery. Mr Montgomery predicts that the next week will be “pivotal” for many businesses on redundancy decisions if further restrictions tighten.

SHG operators claim they have written off stock worth hundreds of thousands during the last lockdown, and estimate similar losses if there are extended restrictions over the winter months.

“Despite constantly asking for more engagement, we are still only hearing about restrictions on the day which does not allow businesses to prepare appropriately. A stop start approach with no notice is unfairly penalising the industry and costing businesses on average £4,000 a week on top of other losses,” said Mr Montgomery.