[ad_1]
Peter Orrmyr is resigned. He runs several restaurants and eateries in Gothenburg with his family, and has hardly taken a nap since the government introduced the alcohol ban proposal.
– There have been many sleepless nights, he says.
The ban goes into effect today and means that taverns, pubs and restaurants cannot serve alcohol after 10pm. Therefore, guests must also leave the premises and the taverns close before 10:30 p.m.
For the Orrmyr family restaurants, this means that several hours of activity disappear.
– Now we cannot accept any reservations after eight o’clock to have time to get both food and drink before we have to close. If they had only allowed us to be open one more hour, we would have had time for another full session, he says and continues:
– But now it disappears, which becomes a huge financial loss.
Minister of Social Affairs Lena Hallengren (C) He justified the prohibition of alcohol by saying that bars and restaurants are risky environments in terms of spreading the infection and that it is necessary to reduce the areas of social contact.
“Also, alcohol can make you lose your mind,” he told a news conference when the ban was introduced.
The decision was met with criticism. Jonas Siljhammar, CEO of the industry organization Visit, previously told TT that the decision will hit the industry hard “already on its knees.”
– The government, of course, wants people to be more careless when they drink alcohol. But it’s better for it to happen in restaurants than at home and at parties, which sadly I think will be a consequence. In restaurants, alcohol consumption is done in an orderly manner and infection control measures are in place, he said.
Hakim Dilmar, Harrys restorer in Uppsala, thinks along the same lines:
– In restaurants we work hard to keep our distance and keep people away, where the risk is lower. When we close, people will have private parties and students will party in their hallways, so the risk will be higher, he says.
The prohibition applies to the last of February. In an attempt to save as much income as possible, Peter Orrmyr’s restaurants will open earlier in the day. One of them will also start serving brunch, all to try to attract guests and make up for the great loss.
– We fight every day to try to find different solutions. But we don’t make a profit, we just try to persevere and get through this period, says Peter Orrmyr.
– Unfortunately, due to this, we have had to lay off personnel who were not permanent employees. It’s really boring, both for them and for us.
Hakim Dilmar, on the other hand, thinks it wouldn’t make any difference for them to open earlier.
– We have more sales after 10 at night, so it affects us a lot. It doesn’t matter if we open earlier, people are careful and scared and I don’t think they dare to go out, he says and adds:
– We can try to open as usual this weekend, and then we will have to make the decision to close or try more.
