Liberation Group and Randalls have questioned why restrictions which prevent customers from drinking while standing at the bar are still in place despite the continued low number of Covid-19 cases in the Island.
Under the government’s roadmap for easing Covid restrictions, alcoholic-drink services for standing customers will not resume until 10 May.
Jonathan Lawson, chief executive of Liberation Group, questioned what else needed to change for the government to ease restrictions further.
‘There has been no indication of community transmission for some time now, and so I don’t see why we could not introduce vertical drinking earlier than expected,’ he said.
‘The response to the first easing of restrictions has been really positive but we can still benefit from further relaxation – especially our smaller wet-led businesses who have less external space and cannot take as many covers with table service only.’
Mr Lawson said the group’s food-led businesses were currently operating at close to normal capacity but many wet-led businesses were still struggling.
‘We saw a positive Easter for trading and the feedback from customers has been brilliant. However, I think the introduction of vertical drinking would be the last piece of the puzzle and would signal normality for the hospitality industry,’ he said.
Gavin Reid, managing director of Randalls, said allowing standing would resemble ‘true normality’. ‘I struggle to understand why restrictions are not being moved forward,’ he said. ‘There has been no spike in cases due to hospitality and there have been very few cases in the Island for some time.
‘For a lot of our business vertical drinking is the difference between breaking even and actually making profit, and that is something everyone could do with after the year we had last year.’
Mr Reid said Randalls venues were currently operating at around 60% of their usual capacity.
‘We had a great Easter and I think customers feel a lot more relaxed now there is no time limit. This also makes it easier for staff, as we can take more covers and fit more bookings in,’ he said.
Mr Reid said Jersey was in a great position to take advantage of a busy summer of business.
‘We have had some great publicity with the Lions visiting and the housewives series. We need to make sure we maximise the opportunity we have this summer with the travel corridor with the UK, and Europe still being in the unfortunate position of having high Covid rates,’ he said.
Commenting on any potential changes to the Covid roadmap, Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham said: ‘We are following a phased approach that allows Islanders to resume more of their regular activities while safeguarding our community and our vaccination programme. We are currently at Stage 5, with the target dates of 10 May for moving to Stage 6, and 14 June for Stage 7.
‘The stage dates are regularly reviewed and currently remain on schedule. Any change will only happen if we are confident that it would not compromise the safeguarding of our community or our vaccination programme.’
