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some, especially without appropriate outdoor facilities. For operating outdoors a small pub would need at least an owner and one staff member. But with a 15-person limit many feel that it’s simply not worth the candle to fund two such salaries. It would seem more logical therefore to match the numbers outside to the available space there rather than a one-size-fits-all 15. Surely someone could look at the size of the outdoor area and allocate a pro-rata customer number? The Castle Inn is ‘landlocked’ so for Michael O’Donovan operating outside is not an option. “But if outdoors is an option for some, I hope the government will consider raising the current limit on numbers,” he adds.
Spring 2021 | DRINKS INDUSTRY IRELAND
the model we were designed for obviously!” And publicans can’t go looking for a bank loan based on a turnover of just 15 people outside the premises. Originally a ‘wet’ pub, during the first Lockdown Martin Harley subsequently decided to change over to offer food, investing some €40,000 in the conversion process. “In the long term it’s a good move” he says, “but when are we going to get operating again?” he wonders, cautiously eyeing-up his costly new slumbering combi-ovens, “I’ve talked to different businesses about this and we need 50-60% of capacity,” says Martin. Then again CRSS payments are not going to last forever. Most publicans can wave them goodbye as soon as the pubs are allowed open in any format. Then they may have to move into this space. “Perhaps the government could allow some to open to the 15-people maximum and allow them to qualify for a 15% CRSS payment,” suggests Martin, “That would be doing two things: taking staff off the PUP and paying out less in social welfare and benefits.”
Notice period “Everyone is dealing with it differently,” says Alan Byrne of Harry Byrne’s in Clontarf.
In Clontarf, Alan Byrne agrees. His larger pub wouldn’t merit bringing staff back for just 15 people. “We’ve a big area outside in the car park which we transformed last Summer into the permanent structure we now have for dining,” he says, “I was operating with three pods of 15 with completely separate staff and toilet area etc. “If you could be Socially Distanced in comparison to your size of premises, everyone would like that,” he believes. But serving up to 15 people outside does remain an option for publicans like Michael O’Sullivan as Clancy’s traded well the last time the restrictions were eased. His location in the middle of Cork City in a new and rejuvenated Princes Street means that his outside business will be feasible. But he’s also a realist. “If our busines model was trading on only 15 people outside at a time then we’d be great - but that’s not
Everything appears to operate on a week-by-week basis with the country’s pubs seemingly the last thing the Government’s thinking about, so it’s unfair to ask a business to open up at short notice. Two weeks would probably be a really good timeframe in terms of suppliers, getting staff rotas up-andrunning and organising training etc. “l need a couple of weeks to get restocked and my suppliers would need that too,” believes Alan Byrne, “We’re dealing with hundreds of pubs and most importantly you need to give your staff notice to come back and get training done too.”
The future As for what vintners expect on reopening, it’s probably going be a bit different to what it was before, says Michael O’Donovan, “... but without getting an opening day and seeing what the guidelines are going to be, it’s a bit difficult to know exactly what it’ll be like”. The trade is watching closely government sentiment in relation to ‘herd immunity’. Clarity is still required where there has been little but
uncertainty and fudging throughout this whole ghastly period. Inevitably then, hospitality has witnessed a steady haemorrhaging of good staff from the industry during the past 12 months. Some of the food outlets look to June or July but for ‘wet’ houses John Quealy reckons on another six weeks again,”.....And now there are murmurs of September...”. Even then, it may take a long time for some people to go into the pub with any degree of confidence. “I think Social Distancing is here for a good while and probably even if the coronavirus disappears off the face of the earth it will take people a while to get confidence back,” John concludes. Going forward, John Clendennen intends investing further in his own premises. “These are uncertain times” he agrees, “and while by far the most extreme ever, they’re not dissimilar to others we’ve experienced as a trade but we’ve stepped up to the plate before and attracted people to premises despite it all. “Nevertheless, it’s going to be a long road back and so Government support must stay in place for a considerable period of time yet so that when we do finally reopen we’ll be like a bike with (Government) stabilisers.” We need to be getting the vaccination rate up to 50% at least before you could think about opening the hospitality sector, believes Martin Harley who feels that this too is going to be a long year. “So that’s going to be two years that the industry won’t forget!” Everyone Alan Byrne meets out and about tends to say how much they’re missing the pub. “It’s not just the drink - they really miss the pub and meeting their friends and even the staff - just to be around people - it’s a very lonely world out there. The pub is a lot more important to the people than just drink.” n