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Coronavirus: Hospitality Ulster to meet ministers about drink-only pubs

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Pubs which only serve drink have not been allowed to reopen in Northern Ireland

Representatives of NI's pub industry said they will meet Stormont ministers later seeking "urgent" measures to help reopen non-food bars.

Drink-only bars which cannot trade due to Covid-19 restrictions are "losing thousands of pounds" weekly, according to Hospitality Ulster.

Its chief executive said many traditional pubs may never reopen unless the executive takes action soon.

Colin Neill said pubs should be allowed to reopen with safety measures.

He said they will meet junior ministers involved in Covid-19 safety regulations.

Northern Ireland's pubs and restaurants which serve food with alcohol reopened on 3 July, after months of closure due to the coronavirus outbreak.

However, the easing of lockdown restrictions has not yet been extended to drinks-only bars, which still cannot serve alcohol indoors.

Mr Neill said traditional non-food pubs should be given the same chance as other businesses to show they can comply with Covid-19 safety measures.

"What we need to see are regulations that apply to everybody in the hospitality sector regardless of business type or licence type," he said.

"Let everyone open and anyone who is irresponsible - shut them."

Colin Neill
Colin Neill say all pubs should be allowed to reopen with rules in place to 'deal with the rogues'

"Let's get all our pubs open and then it's about enforcing the regulations on anyone that ignores them."

Since licensed premises reopened two months ago, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has served 33 prohibition notices for unsafe activity.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne and Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride joined PSNI officers on routine patrol of bars and restaurants in Belfast city centre on Saturday night.

Mr Byrne said the "vast majority" of businesses were following Covid-19 regulations but he said one licensed premises was closed by officers after it was issued with a prohibition notice.

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When Stormont ministers set out their plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown over the summer, drinks-only bars were given an indicative date of 10 August for reopening.

New infections

But on 26 August, the executive announced that had to be postponed due to "increased transmission" of the virus in Northern Ireland.

Since then, concern has been increasing over the number of new infections in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Over the weekend, another 224 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland, with 118 new cases confirmed by the Department of Health on Saturday and 106 on Sunday.

In the Republic of Ireland, 231 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Saturday - mostly in County Dublin - followed by a further 138 on Sunday.

No new deaths were reported in either jurisdiction, however Stormont's Department of Health no longer provides details of coronavirus-related deaths at weekends.