Popular Tipperary pub says ‘we are hoping we will all get to open on June 29’

WHILE  publican Anthony Moynihan  is greatly looking forward to the reopening of his long-established pub on Upper Gladstone Street, Clonmel, in the coming weeks, he is, like many other publicans nationwide, unsure of quite a few details before that greatly anticipated event can actually happen.    

Anthony put it quite simply when saying: “We don’t know for sure when we are opening just yet. Anyone with a restaurant licence can open on 29th June but we are supposed to be 20th July. But we are hoping that we will all get to open on 29th June. We will hopefully know very soon when the Government makes that decision,” he began.

The elephant in the room you feel with publicans is the big issue of the actual distance of social distancing. 

According to Anthony, “the big problem is the social distancing. Two metres makes it very hard to make a living, and we are hoping it will be brought down to one metre. It would make it an awful lot easier for us if the Government does that and it would help to make the running of pubs more viable”.

“The capacity - the two metres -  is the biggest thing for us for now. The two metres kills us as we can’t get enough in. I don’t want the place heaving or anything like that but you need to be able to provide a proper service. I am not going to have people swinging out of the rafters. You might have two metres on a lot of nights that you could manage fine with but the one metre rule would give publicans a better chance,” according to Anthony.

 Some of the possible regulations being bandied about aren’t so clearcut for the pubs as they position themselves to reopen their doors which have been closed since 15th March.

IT JUST DOESN’T ADD UP

 “I don’t see why they won’t bring all the pubs back together. Regarding the sale of food as in a restaurant, most of the restaurants in town wouldn’t have the space I have here. How can they tell me I can’t open because I am not serving food, but you can get a drink in a restaurant with less space. It just doesn’t add up. 

 “I am not sure about table service restrictions either. If you go to any shop or supermarket everybody goes to the till to pay for their purchases. So I couldn’t see a problem where a publican has his point of service at the bar, the customer goes there, collects his drink, and when the point of service is free the next fellow goes up to it.

“If we had guidelines we could start and organise it but we are kind of left hanging now waiting to see what instructions they will give us,” added Anthony whose father Jerry first opened the popular pub on 10th March, 1986.

“I don’t think we will have a problem getting our customers to adhere to social distancing. Pubs are very well organised and very well run. We are all the time dealing with fellows having a few drinks so we will have no problem implementing it. The smoking ban came in and publicans were able to implement that and people were saying we would never be able to implement it,” continued Anthony.

“When you hear people talking about pubs now, even listening to the media, they are talking about Temple Bar and these places. We are a million miles removed from Temple Bar down here. You come down here any night and there is a good few fellows here, no one sitting on top of another, no one falling about the place. Drinking habits have changed. Drink has become a very social thing now. There is no one falling around the streets or falling around to pubs. You just don’t see that anymore,” remarked Anthony.

“I would say 99% of rural pubs are like our pub here. They are family owned, very well organised, very well run. The majority of pubs in Clonmel are the same, they are family-run, family- owned. All my family work behind the counter, my father who is 79 years of age works behind the counter. I am not going to put him at risk or anyone else either,”  added Anthony. 

COST OF DOING BUSINESS IS GONE NUTS

These are difficult times for the drinks industry, even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck he went on to add.

“The cost of doing business for pubs is gone nuts. Sky Sports, insurance, rates. Sky Sports is probably the biggest one,” said Anthony.

“The day of the rural pubs serving a few lads at the counter, the publicans can’t make a living at that anymore. Sometimes it is even costing the owner money to do that because of the overheads. The cost of doing business is huge,” he continued.

ONE CLONMEL PUB THAT WON'T BE REOPENING

Family pubs have invested heavily in their premises over the years something that will stand to  them into the future.

“The standard of pubs in Clonmel, those still remaining that is, is very good, all done up to a very high standard. Those pubs have a chance of continuing. Most of them are family-run. I can shout up the stairs if I get busy and one of the lads would come down and bail me out. You couldn’t have two barmen on but at times you might need two. All of my family muck in to help out.

 “And that kind of family pub set-up feeds into the business. Most of the customers would know all my kids, what they are doing, where they are. And as a family we miss that now. I suppose to an extent it is my social life as well as my work. There are some of them I would see five or six nights a week. They are friends now, they are more than just customers in ways. I know it might sound a bit corny now but they actually are,” he laughed. 

 “I have enjoyed my few weeks off. But now, even meeting the odd few lads on the streets, it is like meeting a long-lost friend. There is excitement in meeting people again. We are looking forward to reopening and getting back to what we do best and as soon as possible,” Anthony concluded.