‘New restrictions are a shambles’ says Strabane businessman

A STRABANE businessman, who recently branched out into the hospitality industry, has labelled new restrictions announced yesterday (Wednesday) as ‘an absolute shambles’ and has not ruled out the possibility of keeping his premises open.

John McGuinness, owner of Harry Jacks on Railway Street, was reacting to the news that, as of Boxing Day, nightclubs will be required to shut their doors from 6am in response to the rising Omicron variant cases. It was also announced that table service and number limits on patrons, known as ‘the rule of six’ would be re-introduced for hospitality venues.

A despondent John can’t believe that hospitality is once again a casualty of restrictions.

“I’m furious at the news. The whole situation is a total shambles and, once more, it’s the hospitality industry which must pay. I’ve just taken on the business and had a brilliant line-up of DJs in place to play at the nightclub, investing thousands of pounds on securing them as well as ensuring I had enough staff to deal with the influx of customers. Now all that hard work has come to nought, depriving lots of music fans of some great nights out. Thousands of pounds down the drain and I won’t see a penny of it back.

“Stormont needs to realise that hospitality is a night-time economy, and the industry relies on people being able to go out at night for a meal or a drink. That can’t be done when you’re shutting at 8pm.

“They don’t have the money to bail us out or help us, yet still expect hospitality business owners to be able to pay our bills. The industry can’t survives as it is, and this is another slap in the face. We will be opening on Christmas night to give people a final night to enjoy themselves before the restrictions kick in,” he explained.

“Although I’m not saying I would do it, if I knew what the prosecutorial penalties were for staying open despite the rules, it isn’t something I would rule out.”

John cannot understand what he sees as ‘mixed messages’ coming from the hill.

“On the one hand, you have Stormont pleading with us to ‘get your jabs, get your boosters’ and everything can get back to normal. Yet here we are a year on and still they’re putting restrictions on our livelihoods,” he said.

With the new Omicron variant currently racking up cases and in line to be at its peak in January, John feels that upgrading the NHS is of paramount importance if we are to get through the pandemic.

“The people at Stormont need to open their eyes. There is a bigger problem at play here and that is the NHS is on its knees and is in desperate need of a huge upgrade. If they would only spend billions on the NHS and get it to a satisfactory standard to deal with the influx of patients as hospitals are overwhelmed. The NHS does not have the tools in place to deal with the virus.”