A well-known Dublin publican says many pubs plan to be back serving pints as early as next month - more than a month ahead of the Government's schedule.
Charlie Chawke said that many boozers which have restaurant licences intend to open on June 29 - the date pencilled in for eateries to reopen.
He told RTE's Liveline that he'll be reopening his pubs that have a restaurant licence on June 29th, saying that if people buy food, they will be able to have a pint, Dublin Live reports.
Under the Government’s five-phase roadmap to lifting coronavirus restrictions, restaurants and cafes can open in phase 3 but pubs, bars, nightclubs, and casinos have to keep their doors closed until phase 5, which begins on August 10.
The well know publican, whose Chawke group consists of nine pubs and employs around 400 people, told RTE Radio 1’s Liveline that the restrictions and roadmap as it is currently poses a grave threat to the industry, telling the show: “We may not survive.”
A north Dublin publican told Dublin Live spoke to this afternoon said he and many others plan to open on June 29.
He said: “We plan to do that. We’re thinking of reopening the pub as a restaurant. So if you want to come in and have and sit down, you can have a drink.
“Once the restaurant part of the pub closes, then the bar is closed too.”
On Wednesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted one of the things he was most looking forward to was going for a pint.
However he said he could not see pubs being allowed move forward in the roadmap to re-open the country.
