Hospitality bosses in Wales have met First Minister Mark Drakeford's latest Covid announcement with frustration as they call for more financial security for their staff.
Mr Drakeford announced "strengthened measures" aimed at keeping Wales safe on December, Wednesday 22 as the Omicron variant cases continue to rise.
They will be introduced from 6am on Boxing Day and are described as "a revised version" of alert level two restrictions.
Read more: Wales brings in tough new Covid restrictions
The regulations bring back tighter measures for hospitality businesses, including licensed premises, and in cinemas and theatres when they re-open after the festive period.
It means nightclubs must close a day earlier on December 26 than originally planned on December 27. The rules will also mean:
A general requirement of 2m social distancing in all premises open to the public and workplaces, where reasonable.
The rule of six will apply to gatherings in regulated premises, such as hospitality, cinemas and theatres.
All licensed premises will need to take additional measures to protect customers and staff, including table service and collecting contact details.
Face coverings will be required in hospitality settings at all times apart from when seated.
Large events will not be allowed indoors or outdoors. The maximum number of people who can gather at an indoor event will be 30 and 50 outdoors.
There will be an exception for team sports, up to 50 spectators will be able to gather, in addition to those taking part. There is also an exception for events involving children.
Mr Drakeford announced £120 million will be available for nightclubs, retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses affected by the move to alert level 2 – double the new £60 million package announced last week. Details on how this money will be shared out will be announced until Thursday, December 23.
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Here's how hospitality bosses from across Wales reacted to the new rules:
'It's incredibly frustrating'
Jonathan Greatorex, landlord of the Hand at Llanarmon in Llangollen said the new restrictions come at a financially crucial time for the industry - most of which is still trying to recover funds lost in previous lockdowns.
He said: "It's a time of year where were make enough money to survive for the next two months. And some businesses are just starting to repay the enormous amounts of money that their business has lost [during the pandemic]. People have already seen their businesses absolutely fall off a cliff edge.
"The word industry when speaking about the "hospitality industry" is slightly disingenuous as it makes us seem like we're a big conglomerate, but we're not. We're a bunch of very small businesses and employ some of the most vulnerable people who are going into Christmas worried about whether they'll have any shifts and worried about whether they're going to have money to pay their rent."
He said it doesn't just impact owners and landlords, but also staff who are trying to make it through Christmas.
"We're also talking about waitresses and chefs and bartenders," he said. "We've got to make sure these people feel looked after. In the absence of furlough, there are going to be an awful lot of worried people.
"Vaughan Gething will be speaking tomorrow to give us an indication as to the financial support available, but of course that doesn't help us immediately."
Though Mr Greatorex said while he appreciates the Covid situation is fast moving, he said thinks the industry is being "unfairly targeted".
"We've now got to look at what bookings we've got, we've got to look at separating tables and potentially cancelling tables. We might have a table of seven booked and the group might have to decide which friend to not come out. I appreciate this is an ever changing situation, but these are people's day to day lives. I have a young waitress who asked if she'd be able to buy Christmas presents for her children - that's the reality."
'It’s a real nightmare'
Ryan Hole, of the Secret Hospitality Group in Swansea, said the restrictions are "not ideal at all" but that they feel lucky that they are able to make their venue covid-compliant to reassure customers.
He said: "We are a large venue with tables spaced out already and we have large sliding doors also so plenty of ventilation. We didn’t change back from the original Covid restrictions as we had a lot of feedback from customers that they felt safe with us, so much so that we won an award for services to the public during the pandemic at the recent Welsh business awards.
"It’s a real nightmare for us as 26th of December to January the 3rd is one of the busiest weeks of the year with everyone out walking and off work. However, all our staff and customers can be reassured that we have made our premises as Covid compliant as possible and we look forward to continuing to provide the people of Swansea with a safe environment to meet friends and family."
'We demand clarity, timescales and a roadmap'
Bruno Nunes owns Creative Hospitality Group which operates a range of hospitality venues in Cardiff and Swansea including Peppermint, Bambu, BrewDog Swansea and BrewStone. He is "urgently" seeking clarity to reassure his employees and to safeguard jobs after December 27.
Mr Numes said “I have one simple question for Mr Drakeford – As we head into Christmas will we have jobs to return to after December 26. As an independent business owner in this sector with £75k in weekly payroll costs and 230 amazing people in my company, I have no answers for them. I wonder how Mr Drakeford would feel heading into Christmas and having to make a choice about paying bills, buying food or getting a present for a loved one and how he may deal with the anxiety that he may not have a job in a few days’ time."
Mr Numes said he is concerned about the lack of clarity that has so far been given to hospitality funding, leaving business owners and staff anxious about the festive period. He said the £120m earmarked to help the hospitality sector and other sectors is "simply not enough".
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He added: “While a funding package has been announced and with more news expected on this in Thursday - with no clarity on the duration of nightclub closures and today’s announcement that our trade will be even further impacted with the return of table service and the rule of six - we are calling on Welsh Government to provide the assurance we need to safeguard jobs and to ensure our sector is not unfairly punished and we need this reassurance before Christmas. From what we already know the funding package is far less than what we had before and no furlough to fall back on.
“Mr Drakeford himself admits that furlough cannot return without central government giving it the go ahead and yet he is intent on pushing ahead with restrictions without this vital security for the workforce. I am at a loss as to how Welsh Government can justify closing a whole sector and placing extreme limitations on hospitality without clear evidence on the new variant and how it will impact society. These measures simply drive gatherings in domestic settings without ventilation, without Covid Passes and without hygiene controls in place which will ultimately increase transmission. It is almost inconceivable that today’s announcement also comes with no regulation restricting numbers in domestic settings while it so heavily limits the hospitality sector.
“Put simply, we demand clarity, timescales and a roadmap out of this before Mr Drakeford and his colleagues enjoy their Christmas break.”
'We find out last minute'
Tom Morgan is the director of Cardiff bar Pitch as well as club 10 Mill Lane. He said having to close the club a day earlier had a huge impact on the amount of money the business could make. He said his main concern was being unable to reassure his staff about what will happen next.
He said: "We had a delivery of stock that totalled £5,000 this morning at 9am and we found out three ours later we wouldn't be selling it. We're in a position yet again where we're finding out last minute what restrictions are coming in from the Welsh Government.
"What is happening is we're finding out we're losing more days of trading before we're finding out what financial support is available for us. My main concern is the impact it's having on my staff. It's really hard on them not having answers, we want them to feel secure and we're waiting on the Welsh Government to give us [support]. If we knew we wouldn't be opening earlier we would not have ordered what we ordered. Some of it can be save, but some of it is dead stock and will need to be thrown out if it gets past its date."
'It's a very worrying time'
Lance Pardoe, of Uplands Diner in Swansea, has closed the restaurant to operate on a takeaway only basis until next year.
He said: "We have a duty to both staff and customers to keep them safe, so we are happy to take whatever measures are necessary. We have already made the decision to close the cafe until January 5, but we need further clarification before we can make any future decisions. There have been no real clear guidelines yet."
"We are fortunate enough to have a strong online customer base to keep us going, but with so much uncertainty ahead, it's a very worrying time and I feel for the businesses who don't have an online customer base to fall back on. With that being said, I do expect that we'll lose some online custom as more people work from home, because people are more likely to just pop into the kitchen than order online.
"One thing we did notice when we first re-opened after lockdown was that our regular elderly customers chose to order online rather than come into the cafe because they were just too weary. Over the past few weeks, more of them started coming into the cafe as their confidence started to rebuild, but that confidence has just shattered that again with new restrictions."
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