Business-owners and employees in the hospitality and retail sectors have been flat-out this week preparing for their reopening on Friday (April 30) after a marathon lockdown.
With licenced and unlicenced premises allowed to serve customers outdoors, groups of up to six people from no more than two households will once again be able to meet up for a drink and a bite to eat. The easing of restrictions will also see non-essential retailers open their doors to customers.
After a period in “limbo”, Balmoral Hotel General Manager, Damian Gilvary, said staff are “buzzing” to host punters in their new and extended beer garden.
“When we got the dates a few weeks ago it was all-guns-blazing,” he said.
“Obviously we had the beer garden previously, but I wanted to make it bigger and better and have something to give back to our loyal customers.”
As well as extending the garden — renamed the Greenane Gardens — the Balmoral has also added a brand-new outdoor tent. Meanwhile, the ‘San Marco’ food truck will serve artisan pizza and tacos throughout the evening.
BUZZING: Damian Gilvary, manager at Balmoral Hotel, and Fionnuala O'Carroll, get ready for reopening on Friday.
“It’s exciting, it’s something new, and it’s also getting the staff back into the swing of things because hospitality has technically been closed for a year,” said a delighted Damian. "We had a few weeks in-between last summer and just before Christmas, but everyone knew where things were heading so we couldn’t really get into the swing of it."
Michael Collins, of Collins Furniture in Andersonstown, said his team are “bursting to open up".
“We’ve been able to do a small bit of telephone selling during the lockdown, and we have still been working over the past couple of months delivering, for example, bespoke suites that customers had ordered before Christmas, so we have been active behind the scenes,” he said. “We’ve been in business here over 70 years, so we pride ourselves on giving customers a very high level of service. That’s what people expect from us. You can’t really do that online, so a lot of our customers have been looking forward to getting back into the shop again.”
He added: “We’ve been very appreciative of the support our customers have given us throughout lockdown.”
The full easing of restrictions from April 30 means:
All remaining non-essential retail can reopen;
Self-contained tourist accommodation, such as caravans and rented holiday homes can operate;
Licensed and unlicensed premises can serve customers outdoor in groups of six from no more than two households;
Curfew on takeaways and off licenses will be lifted;
Gyms and swimming pools can reopen and one to one training can resume;
Groups of up to 15 people from no more than three households can meet in a garden.
