The Hunter's hospitality industry has entered troubled waters and could be crippled if restrictions enforced on venues as part of the federal government's social distancing measures remain in place long term.
Large clubs and pubs are having to make a suite of operational changes as a result of the nationwide ban on non-essential indoor gatherings of more than 100 people.
Newcastle nightclub The Argyle, Finnegan's Hotel and live-music venue Lizottes have all announced immediate temporary closures.
Some big clubs are likely to be well placed to handle the drop in trade from reduced patronage, but other venues say it will be a struggle.
"It's going to hit us very, very hard," The Prince of Merewether owner Ty Burdford said on Wednesday.
"I had a tear in my eye this morning when I read [the limit could be for] six months. Unfortunately the bigger the venue, the more disadvantaged you are."
Australian Hotels Association regional president Rolly de With said the limit of 100 people would allow most pubs to continue trading without major disruption.
"These new measures will allow venues to continue to trade, allowing staff to remain employed, to pay their bills, and meet mortgage requirements," he said.
"In the media we speak about venues, but this is really about the human element.
"It is about the impact to people and their ability to maintain the cost of living.
"These measures will allow us,as employers, to do that for staff."
Some Hunter pubs are already feeling the effects of the coronavirus crisis as people choose to stay at home. Many have attempted to adapt to the societal change.
The Prince will soon sell meals through its drive-thru bottle shop and launch a delivery service. Owners Ty and Julianne Burford said the "fast-moving" situation had forced them to diversify their offerings, including a "pantry" selling food.
"We'll have things like curries and pies in the Prince pantry," Mr Burford said.
"We've also got, with our meat supplier, heaps of mince coming and chuck-beef for freezing or roasting. And we're going to do drive-thru takeaway food; pizzas, schnitzels and burgers."
The business will have to be "restructured" and parts of the hotel, which hosts more than 400 people on its busiest nights, likely closed in order to adhere to the restrictions, the owners said. Although the hotel's balcony will remain open as it is not part of the indoor limit.
"We've got a pretty big space, so we'll rotate what areas are open at different times," Mrs Burford said.
"We'll still have plenty of space for people so they can socially distance ... and some of our staff might be doing things they don't usually do, like jumping in the bottle shop or behind the bar."
The owners were assessing how staffing levels would change, but said they would do everything they could to keep 74 employees in work.
"We are going to get over this," Mr Burford said. "We've invested a lot of time into our loyal staff and we're going to need them. We'll be doing our best to share the shifts and protect as many people as we can, but unfortunately some will suffer."
The Newcastle Herald contacted multiple registered clubs on Wednesday but management were still working out how the limit would apply to multi-area facilities.
A ClubsNSW spokesperson said clubs would remain open but patrons should expect "distancing measures" and "intensive cleaning".
Hunter Business Chamber CEO Bob Hawes said some suppliers of hospitality businesses were "particularly stressed" about the implications of the restrictions.
"The face value impacts of this go a lot deeper," he said.
"It is going to have a major impact on a broad range of venues and operations, and the flow-on effects are going to be significant. Hopefully, even though these measures sound very drastic in the short term, that they in fact shorten the overall endurance of the virus."
Smaller hospitality businesses like cafes are experiencing a downturn in trade.
Darren Smith, owner of Euro Patisserie - a cafe, catering and cake business in New Lambton - said daily sales had fallen 25 to 30 per cent over the past week.
He said dozens of catering or cake orders for events had been postponed and the cafe, which has a predominately elderly clientele, had a notable drop in patronage.
Mr Hawes encouraged business operators to "get advice early on" from an accountant or financial adviser.
"Run some scenarios, if you have to close - how long can you endure that? If you business was halved, how long can you sustain that?" he said.
He also advised operators to complete the chamber's business survey.
"The more information and feedback we get from business about what they think could work or help, the more direct we can aim our advocacy at government," he said. "Because they've all left the door open, state and federal, to stage two, stage three [stimulus packages] and whatever else it takes."
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