PUB landlords in Dursley, Cam and Wotton have been reacting to the latest restrictions to the hospitality industry.

The Government has announced that all pubs, bars and other hospitality venues in England must close at 10pm from today (Thursday).

Ellie Sainty, owner of the Old Spot in Dursley and Old Fox in Coaley, said landlords are currently ‘between a rock and a hard place’, as they try to navigate the demands of lockdown.

“We have been in the town 28 years,” she said, “and we will be here after Covid has long gone, but we really are between a rock and a hard place to keep everyone employed and there will be a lot of pubs that sadly will not make it through.

“At the Spot, the early closing will result in a considerable loss of revenue, just as we had almost clawed our way back to something like normality.

“Understandably the Government has to implement restrictions as necessary to reduce the spread of the virus however, I don’t agree that all pubs are hotbeds of contamination.

“The media coverage gives an impression that the hospitality industry is generally thumbing is nose to the rules and guidelines but I believe the majority of pubs are stringently following the regulations and have robust practices in place.

“We take it very seriously at both the Old Spot and the Old Fox because it is essential to gain customer confidence and to give them a relaxed and stress free experience, and we need them to return.

“It would be professional suicide to ignore the seriousness of this pandemic, so we do whatever it takes.”

Andy Starling, who runs the Falcon Steakhouse in Wotton, posted a selfie (pictured here) as a way of summing up his feelings towards the 10pm closures.

He said: “It doesn’t sound like much of an issue on the surface but to a small dining room like ours where we turn the tables over and have two sittings it literally halves the money we can take.”

Andy says one adjustment they will make to service, to make sure they are able to close at 10pm, is to make their dessert course into a take-away course, unless the diners have lots of time left after their mains.

Stavros Antonio of Ye Olde Dursley Hotel said: “I believe the Government should have done this compulsory masks for staff and customers and 10pm closing when they reopened hospitality in July, and then relaxed Covid measures gradually going forward.

“Unfortunately they have done it backwards and it now seems like we are being penalised.

“I fully understand why the Government has targeted the late night/weekend crowd, as the police chief constable stated ‘People and alcohol cannot socially distance’.

“We are all praying that our customers will carry on to support us by frequenting earlier.”

Graham and Hazel Ponting, landlords at the Berkeley Arms in Cam, said with the earlier closing time they are expecting to serve more carry-outs, and they have a quantity of two and five pint carriers for that

purpose.

They also plan to start their weekly Tuesday quiz earlier than usual, so that it can wrap up by 9.30pm.

“A couple of our customers are shift workers and they like to call in after work, from 10pm until 11pm, and that’s messed them up,” said Graham.

“But we were talking about it with them and they said ‘that’s just how it is’. That's the general attitude - people are just getting on with it.”

Sharron Brimble, of the Railway in Cam, said: “Hopefully it won’t last too long but we have to do what has to be done. We will be following the rules.

"And I do think people will probably come out earlier.”