New Forest pub manager backing calls for full reopening
Under current guidance pubs can have customers in their gardens from April 12th
The manager of a pub in the New Forest is backing calls from some hospitality leaders to open pubs fully.
Next month they will be able to welcome customers in their outdoor spaces, but there are plans to take the government to court over that.
A small group, including Greater Manchester Night Time Economy Advisor Sacha Lord, asked the government for reasons why pubs can't open inside at the same time non-essential shops can.
Mr Lord took to Twitter a couple of days ago to say no evidence was provided and they were planning to take them to the High Court for a judicial review.
Currently shops can fully open on April 12th, while pubs can have people outside from the same date.
Cathy Wilson, Manager of the Royal Oak in Fritham, told Greatest Hits Radio that she gets why the government started with the plan to open outdoors first, but says customers would be safe inside:
"I can understand the staggered approach because the outside over the last 12 months has always been viewed as a safer option, however people are reporting that they feel less safe in supermarkets and shops as some never seem to implement the same amount of measures as they did during the first lockdown so if the government are saying that there isn't any evidence of it then I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to open at the same time as non-essential retail.
We would love to reopen as soon as we possibly can, hospitality businesses are in a much worse financial position than they were 12 months ago and despite the government's financial assistance even those with outdoor space may not be able to make the money that is required of them to make it viable to be open while the restrictions are still in place and they might need to wait until they are totally relaxed to be able to afford to make any money or have the staff working that is going to make the business money.
It's been so unbelievably difficult over the last year, the restrictions that were put in place after the first lockdown were not shown to create a surge in the number of cases of covid, which suggest the measures that were put in place that were more than adequate and even many hospitality businesses, such as ourselves, went above and beyond what was asked to ensure the safety of our staff and our customers and so much so that the eat out to help out scheme was introduced, heavily promoted by the government as hospitality was seen as one of the sectors fully embracing the covid secure guidelines, so not to be able to open fully and welcome the customers that we would be looking forward to seeing for a few weeks at Easter is just heartbreaking."
Sacha Lord says a legal team is currently working to see what their next steps are.