The streets of Newport city centre are usually busy on a Friday night with people unwinding with a few drinks after a busy week at work. But yesterday, the city's nightlife hotspots were deserted — except for some who wanted just one last pint.
We were on the street of Newport last night, a few short hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson had declared that all pubs and bars should shut their doors by midnight on Friday. The silence on an eerily quiet Cambrian Road was only broken by a few drinkers who wanted to have one more night out with their friends before the pubs close for what could be weeks or months.
Places where people usually socialise in large numbers, like pubs and restaurants, have been identified as raising the risk of the virus spreading and closed as health workers fight the affects of the pandemic (to pledge your support to our health workers, just go to our new website www.thanksamillionnhs.co.uk ).
The owner of Slipping Jimmy's Bar & Grill on High Street, said this was the first Saturday she hadn't worked in four years and was worried about her staff.
Suzanne Reynolds and her husband, Stephen, have owned the bar for four years and are trying to "stay positive" after their sudden closure.
" It’s going to hit us badly over the next few months. Me and my husband were running the place and it's both our jobs really, but, to be honest, it’s the best thing they can do. We saw this coming. We were a bit gutted they did it yesterday straight away, we were expecting it on Monday so we had time to adapt to it," she said.
Mrs Reynolds had ordered stock to cover the weekend and said that has now added extra costs to deal with now they are closed.
"I know it can't be helped, it's anything to stop this virus now. My staff were amazing to be honest. We're gutted for them because some of them had other jobs through the week but a couple only work in the bar.
"As long as the government pays out and sticks to their word we hope they'll be OK," she added.
Mrs Reynolds said the Prime Minister had done "OK" so far and thinks that closing different types of business in stages was the right way to go.
She is concerned for her own daughter, who is 26 weeks pregnant, and hasn't been visiting her for a week because of the risk of passing the virus on.
"There's sad times ahead for everyone, but it is what it is. There's thousands of others out there, not just in pubs and restaurants, that may lose their jobs soon and I can see them closing all the shops next.
"The only ones that are going to stay in their jobs are NHS workers, it's going to be really tough for them and I feel sorry for them."
Mrs Reynolds thinks the closures could go on for longer than the initial period of a month outlined by the government, and that if it goes on much longer than a month she "hasn't got any savings or anything to see us by."
