Matters Of PUB-Lic Interest
BY LLOYD GORMAN
A GOOD DAY FOR IRISH PUBS – AFTER 476 DAYS BAD ONES It has been a long time coming but from July 5 all pubs in Ireland will be allowed to take the big step of reopening for indoor service. Watering holes across the country closed their doors 15 months ago, on March 15 2020, the eve of their biggest and busiest time of the year. That’s 476 consecutive days of being out of business. Just for reference, pubs in Perth shut down by the end of that same month but were back in business after a couple of months, serving takeaway orders at first and then by degrees opened up to ever increasing numbers of customers, and things have largely returned to pre-COVID ‘normal’ for the WA hospitality sector. At 12.01am Wednesday 23 June, WA moved into Phase 5 of the COVID-19 roadmap. This meant the removal of the 2 square metre rule and that pubs could now have 100% (not 75%) of punters on the premises, while major venues and events no longer face any limits on crowd size. Some controls – such as mandatory contact registers – will stay in place but essentially punters and revellers in WA will be able to party like its 1999 all over again (please forgive the Prince pun). Meanwile, back in Ireland, outdoor service was allowed at Irish pubs 32 | THE IRISH SCENE
Above: Twitter user @Gaothmhor posted on this image on June 8 with the caption, “The Universe has returned to its proper order, #Sham and #ThePrince are back in @jackcsbar (Killarney, Co, Kerry) #GuinnessTime” from June 7, marking a slow return to something like normal business for them. “We are pleased to have finally received confirmation that all pubs will be able to reopen for indoor service from 5th July,” said Donall O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the LVA. “It has been a long time coming, but this is a time for hope and optimism. The 5th July will mark the beginning of the recovery for pubs and other hospitality businesses. Many pubs will not be in a position to offer outdoor service, so confirmation of the date for reopening indoors was vital. It is extremely important that all pubs, food and traditional, will now be able to open together. We are absolutely delighted that the Government has taken this on board and that there will be no further divisions in our industry. Our members are all simply ‘pubs’ once again. Hopefully no one will ever have the need to use the term ‘wet pubs’ in future.” Ireland’s second pub lobby body the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI), which represents drinking dens outside Dublin, welcomed the resumption of business on June 7 with its “We’ve missed you” campaign.
