Fiona Williams feels like she’s in the middle of a political tug of war – one which has become tiresome.
Hers is probably the closest bar and club to Wales’ border with England and this weekend she will have to invest in extra door staff to turn people away who cannot prove they are double-jabbed against Covid-19.
“I never expected there to be border issues when I took this on in 2019 – there have never been any issues like this here until Covid,” she explained, sat at a table in her Pitchers sports bar and grill at the bottom of Chepstow’s high street where she is frantically organising her bar with apprehension ahead of the first weekend under yet more new rules in Wales. “Sedbury [the English neighbour] is just part of Chepstow and people here have never seen it as any different.”
Read more: To read more Covid in Wales news visit our coronavirus page here
It feels different now. The Welsh Government has introduced a Covid pass system that means all over-18s have to show either they have been fully vaccinated or have tested negative to gain access to clubs and events such as large concerts and sporting events. But in England those plans were scrapped and Covid passes will not be implemented.
Across Wales club owners are fretting about the bottom line again but nowhere is it more keenly felt than at the border – almost equal distance between Bristol and Cardiff.
Fiona’s bar plays music into the early hours of the morning, which means she will have to ask visitors for passes. The problem for her is there is a strong possibility at least half of her potential customers will be coming from England.
“For two miles you’re in Wales from the old bridge and then you’re back in England again at the other bridge and often people don’t realise that,” she said. “That’s the issue we had with masks as well – we’ve had it right the way through. I have bought so many masks to give to customers because you don’t have to wear masks in places like this in England.
“We had the same when England opened for hospitality before us. Chepstow was dead – there was nothing here.
“I do feel unlucky being this side of the border and I know it will affect us.”
She admitted she envisages some difficult conversations with locals from over the border who are often at the bar over a weekend.
“We have locals coming in here week after week and we never have issues with them and yet we now might have to turn them away. It is upsetting because many people [planning on visiting this weekend] probably haven’t even thought about the need for passes.
“It seems like Boris says one thing and Drakeford says something else. It’s hard, really hard.”
The Covid passes directly affect three bars in Chepstow but some pub landlords said their businesses could be impacted too.
David Foxford-Brown runs the Coach and Horses pub at the top end of the town. He closes at 10pm and says drinkers often then head to bars which stay open later, such as The George a few doors down.
“I close at 10pm and there might be 10 people who leave here and go down to The George and stay there until 2am,” he explained. “Now all of a sudden they might not come. They might go to Sedbury instead.
“People are tired of [the restrictions]. At the beginning they thought it was amazing what we were having to do but now people think it’s gone on too long. It doesn’t matter how much you explain that this is a legal requirement because we’re in Wales – people aren’t interested.
“It’s unsettling for me because I think it’s about freedom of choice. All of my staff are double-jabbed but I wouldn’t have forced it on any of them.
“Are we going down a route of saying those reluctant to be jabbed can’t work in this industry anymore? What about people with religious beliefs that might deter them from having the vaccine? In my opinion it’s a person’s right to do whatever they want to do. It’s taken people’s freedoms and rights from them.”
Chepstow resident Jacob Mott, who is double-jabbed, believes it will be difficult for door staff to enforce the new rules properly.
“What’s to stop people giving their Covid pass to a friend and letting them use it?” he said. “Would it be easy to stop someone getting in with a fake pass?
“Covid is always going to be here now and I do think we probably need to try and get on with it now.”
It is accepted that the pass is open to abuse as the lateral flow test is self-certified, but the Welsh Government has made it an offence to try to cheat the system.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain earlier this week First Minister Mark Drakeford said Covid passes will help venues like nightclubs stay open and will help to "protect them" as we move into winter. You can read the full article here.
"Nightclubs already have to check people as they come into them because people have to have a proof of age in order to be admitted," he said.
"I don't think the cost issue is a very significant one here and the purpose of the Covid pass is to protect those venues so that they can stay open.
"If we see rising numbers of coronavirus in Wales, and we have high numbers already in the community, then the first places that would have to close would be the highest-risk venues.
"Having the Covid pass there will help them to stay open during the autumn and the winter.
"That is the purpose of it – not to be an extra burden on them or to single them out but to protect them so that they can go on operating successfully as we go into what is going to be a challenging time of the year."
On people potentially faking the passes he added: "We have created a specific offence which will mean that if someone deliberately falsifies the result of a lateral flow test they will be breaching the law in Wales.
"I think the broader point for me is that we have literally thousands and thousands of people taking lateral flow tests in Wales every day of the week."
Xhaferr Caca, from Albania, said he doesn’t believe in being vaccinated and new rules for Wales won’t change his mind.
“I don’t care that I can’t go out in Wales because we can go out in England,” he said. “I haven’t been jabbed, I don’t want it. Even if I wouldn’t be able to go out at night without the pass,I would just go out in daylight. I’m against all of this, I don't think it’s fair.
“I think it's something to be worried about because it has taken our freedom away from us.”
To get the latest email updates from WalesOnline straight to your inbox click here.
