‘It’s baffling’: Bosses of Northampton pubs and bars react to latest Covid restrictions

From Thursday (September 22), night time economy businesses will have to close by 10pm
The night time economy in Northampton will be hit by the latest restrictions.The night time economy in Northampton will be hit by the latest restrictions.
The night time economy in Northampton will be hit by the latest restrictions.

A number of Northampton business owners in the hospitality sector have been left disappointed by the latest coronavirus restrictions.

Boris Johnson addressed the House of Commons at lunchtime ahead of a live press briefing tonight to announce that from Thursday (September 22) pubs, bars and restaurants will have to shut by 10pm.

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For some local businesses, especially those that appeal to a later crowd, this could lead to a significant drop in income.

Retro Bar remains closed.Retro Bar remains closed.
Retro Bar remains closed.

The Boston Clipper in College Street only reopened two weeks ago, but it is now feared it may have to close again as it is mainly busy after 10.30pm.

Danny Edwards, who owns The Boston and Retro Bar, said: “We’re disappointed and baffled to a certain extent.

“How can they justify us needing to close at 10pm? How that will have a positive effect on cases, I don’t know.

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People want to go out so all this will do is drive people out earlier but not that much earlier, then they’ll end up going home to house parties.

“We do open at 6pm, but we don’t get busy until 10.30pm or 11pm, so we now have to make a difficult decision.

“We either trade between 4pm and 10pm and hope there is a huge change in the night time economy or we close the doors.

“It can only have a negative effect. A lot of people will just get out of the habit of going out and the night time economy was already struggling in Northampton.

“It’s definitely challenging times ahead.”

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As Retro Bar trades solely as a nightclub and it would be extremely difficult to offer table service in the Bridge Street establishment, Danny says it will remain closed.

Across the street from Retro, NBs has reopened as a pub rather than a club.

However the owner, Marc Sawer, is concerned about the future of NBs and one of his other businesses, the King Billy Rock Bar in Commercial Street, if no more financial support is offered.

Marc said: “It’s frustrating and it doesn’t make sense that you can sit in a pub between 12pm and 10pm with various different people, but then at 10pm Covid becomes problematic.

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“We will lose income and it will have a detrimental effect on the economy especially as we have no more financial help.

“Furlough will finish at the end of October and companies won’t be able to afford to keep staff on with reduced hours.

“It’s all well and good putting these restrictions in place, but without financial help it’s just sending the night time economy down quicker.”

Marc says NBs will open at 6pm rather than 8pm and he hopes people will come out earlier.

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For many local pubs, weekdays will not be affected by the new restrictions, however some that open until later on weekends, like The Market Tavern in Fish Street, will be impacted.

Baiba Busmane, manager of the pub, said: “We’re not happy about the restrictions, especially for the weekend as we’ve gone back to normal hours where the pub closes at 1am on a Saturday.

“After 8pm or 9pm it gets busy and we reach full capacity, so we will lose a lot of money after those hours.

“I think people will be coming out earlier, which will mean pubs will be busier and it will be harder for staff to manage.

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“It just means we’ll be busier before 10pm so in terms of cases I don’t think this will help them to decrease.

“In terms of the table service, we’d need to get extra staff in on extra hours, which we just can’t afford.

“The company is working on an app so people can order from the table, so that would help.”

In the House of Commons speech, the Prime Minister said the restrictions could be in place for up to six months.

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He will address the nation in a press briefing at 8pm tonight (September 22) to set out the new restrictions.

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