A bar owner in Birkenhead is worried for the future after the government unveiled the new plan b restrictions this week.
Representatives from the night time industry believe the government's mixed messages over covid restrictions will affect the confidence of people going back to late night venues.
The plan B restrictions include people having to wear face coverings in most crowded indoor settings and mandatory vaccine passports for venues over 500 capacity.
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The Night Time Industries Association, which represents the nightlife sector, said the plan is "devastating" for the industry and could decimate trade at a particularly busy and profitable time.
Chris Torpey, co-founder at Future Yard in Birkenhead, told the ECHO the government were destroying public confidence in going out and venues were being left uncertain for the future.
He said: "I wasn't really surprised. It was something that was coming but its really disappointing.
"We've seen people slowly getting used to going back out again after the various lockdowns which has been a long, slow process.
"It's going to massively impact and set back an industry which is already ailing.
"It's really worrying and I feel sad for a lot of hospitality venues who will be forced to close because of the restrictions at a time which is traditionally a vitally busy period for the whole sector."
Mr Torpey said his venue would not be directly affected by the introduction of new measures as the capacity wasn't big enough to warrant the introduction of vaccine passports.
But he added the wider impact of people losing confidence to go out with new variants and restrictions would have a huge impact on the industry.
He said: "I think the wider impact is public confidence and how people feel in general about going out into spaces with crowds.
"It's fairly fragile from what we've seen in the last few months, so the bigger impact will almost be the general public confidence over how long these restrictions will last.
"It's been a really tough period to get through and this could be another serious blow.
"Public confidence has almost dissipated with the way everything has been handled since the pandemic broke out.
"The hospitality industries, many of them small businesses, are often the ones who bear the brunt of it on the front line.
"It's really difficult to operate and build confidence with our customers. Fortunately the people who work in this industry are massively resilient and have fought to get through it."
Mr Torpey added he was "disgusted" by the allegations the government were having parties last Christmas when the night time industry had to shut down due to restrictions.
He said: "It's a kick in the teeth to be honest and massively undermines everything they've said.
"We've had to bear the brunt of it and strips away a lot of confidence in the people setting the rules — it's poor leadership but also a really callous approach the way they were laughing about it.
"We couldn't even open our doors last year because of the restrictions, we had to wait until Spring this year, so it just leaves such a bad taste."
Michael Kill, the Night Time Industries Association CEO, said: “The Government’s own report on the subject concluded that vaccine passports wouldn’t even have a significant impact on virus transmission.
"You do, therefore, have to question the timing and rationale for this announcement. Is this sound evidence-based public policy making or is this an attempt to move the news agenda on from a damaging story about the Downing St Christmas party?
"Nightclubs and bars must not be thrown under the bus for the Prime Minister to save his own skin.
“And of course these businesses, who have already sacrificed so much during the pandemic, will be asking – ‘why are we being asked to carry more of the burden when it seemed that the most senior Government officials felt they didn’t need to do their bit?’”
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