Indoor hospitality resumes today with a mix of “relief, hope and nervousness” for many businesses.
For some pubs, today is the first day to open since March 2020. Almost 500 days later, pubs are preparing for new procedures for the safety of customers.
People who are fully vaccinated or who have recovered from Covid-19 in the past six months will be allowed to avail of indoor hospitality. Unvaccinated children will be allowed join vaccinated adults once seated two metres away from other tables.
Late night chances were made to regulations overnight. Contact tracing is now only required for the lead person at a table under new updated guidelines.
“The relief of trading will undoubtedly be tinged with trepidation. There are a lot of mixed feelings about reopening and what it’s going to mean in terms of handling difficult customers and protecting the welfare of staff,” said Donall O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA).
“For many in our sector this is not the way we wanted to reopen, but unfortunately it is the only option on the table. All our members and other hospitality businesses must clearly understand that they have to do everything they can to ensure the new guidelines are thoroughly followed and enforced. We would also ask the members of the public to work with the sector in helping us to make a success of these measures.”
