A swathe of Fife’s small independent pubs will be wiped off the map unless they are given targeted support to survive the Covid-19 pandemic.
The stark warning from the Fife Licensed Trade Association (FLTA) reflects many small owner-operated bars at the heart of communities, which have found reopening harder than larger operators.
Morag Douglas, owner of The Star pub in Burntisland and a director of the FLTA, told The Courier many publicans are facing an “impossible choice” between opening and running at a loss, staying closed and getting into further debt, or opening and running unsafely.
Ms Douglas said all three options were unacceptable to her but she believes desperation may drive people to take the third approach with a resultant risk to public health.
“These are pubs where people come in and sit round the bar in order to have social contact with other people,.
“These are also the pubs which will go out of their way to support these customers in their time of need.
“For example, my own premises has been used to shop for and deliver to many vulnerable over-70s in the town of Burntisland, with the help of a small group of volunteers made up of staff and customers and I know there have been many stories like this across Fife.
“At the start of lockdown, we were all very relieved to receive our grants and government backed loans, which helped us through the first few months of closure.
“Now, however, it would appear we are being left behind as the Chancellorʼs announcement of a VAT cut to 5% was of no help at all to businesses who donʼt sell food and there are many of us.
“His dining voucher wonʼt help us either and will probably drive customers to food-led outlets.”
Ms Douglas, who reopened The Star last week, pointed out social distancing and keeping customers from the bar makes it difficult to make ends meet, while those relying on outside spaces will be left at the mercy of the Scottish weather.
“I, personally will only be able to get six customers inside my pub at one metre distancing and will be very much hoping for good weather to allow me to maximise my outside space.
“Consequently, a week of rain would be very bad for me indeed.
“It appears that the reopening guidelines and further help from the Chancellor are very much aimed at larger businesses and the small pubs which are such an important part of the community have been completely left out in the cold, and their owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“If more help is not forthcoming quickly for these businesses, I fear that there will soon be a lot less community pubs around which will be a severe blow to our Scottish way of life in which we come together to help and support each other through such social venues.”
Her comments have been echoed by FLTA secretary Jeff Ellis, who said the restart of subscriptions for showing sporting events will be a cost rather than a revenue generator.
“Some pubs have to fork out £1,000 a month and now that Amazon have got football games too, you can probably add another 50%.
“It’s all linked to rateable value but you have to sell a lot of beer to cover subscriptions at that level and that’s before you pay anyone else.”
A Treasury spokesman said the government has done what it can to support the hospitality industry.
“Since the start of the pandemic we’ve acted at speed to support pubs and protect jobs.
“This includes business rates relief, our job retention scheme supporting 9.4 million furloughed workers, over 1 million bounce back loans issued, tax cuts and deferrals and eviction protection.”
