Covid in Scotland: Glasgow delis win legal fight to stay open

Frustrated restaurateurs in Glasgow have won the right to keep their delis open after the council said they should close under Covid restrictions.

They appealed to the Sheriff Court after officials said they did not qualify for the exemption for cafes.

Italian deli Eusebi secured a court order preventing the authority issuing a prohibition order on Wednesday.

The council has now given an undertaking not to pursue similar action against four other premises.

Most hospitality venues in Glasgow and elsewhere in the central belt have been forced to shut since 9 October, with local authorities being asked to enforce the closures.

However, the legislation includes an exemption for cafes - which are allowed to stay open until 18:00.

It defines a cafe as premises "where the primary business activity is the sale of non-alcoholic drinks, snacks or light meals".

Glasgow deli owner Giovanna Eusebi was threatened with fines after deciding to stay open.

On Wednesday she won an interim interdict, which prevents the council from serving a prohibition notice.

After her success, the owners of the Sarti deli decided to pursue the same course of action.

Sarti had closed down its two restaurants but not its deli which it says mostly sells soup, sandwiches, pizza and hot drinks.

The owners said they had closed for a short time after being told they could face a prohibition notice and fines of £980 every day they remained open.

Michele Arrighi, of Sarti, told BBC Scotland he wanted the deli to stay open as otherwise the business would be "in dire straits" and he would have no option but to consider making staff redundant.

He said he felt the hospitality industry was "being fed to the wolves".

"It's pretty scary - we're trying to make ends meet but even with the government support it's not enough to see us through," he said.

He warned that without much more support, Scotland's city centres were going to "die a death".

"A lot of people don't understand how desperate things are," he said.

"Am I going to be able to keep a roof over my kids' head? It's grim."

Glasgow City Council said more than 1,200 premises had been visited since additional measures were introduced and that overall compliance had been good.

A spokesperson said: "This week a sheriff granted an interim interdict to stop us from issuing a prohibition notice to one business and, separately, we gave an undertaking to another sheriff that we wouldn't issue prohibition notices to four other premises.

"Clearly these legal cases apply to the very specific case of whether a business is a restaurant or a café and make it difficult for us to issue prohibition notices in those cases.

"However, our advice remains the same; restaurants and bars should not be open to customers and prohibition notices remain an option where the regulations are clearly being flouted."

Council leader Susan Aitken said she recognised the financial difficulties facing many businesses and called for more support for the industry.

Questioned about the legal action at her daily briefing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said businesses had the right to challenge the law.

She said she would not criticise businesses who tried to stay open but urged everyone to try to work within the spirit of the rules.

Ms Sturgeon added that these decisions were not taken lightly, and said everyone had to remember that "we are in the most horrendous situation right now", and that the measures were necessary to slow the spread of the virus.