Coronavirus lockdown Wales: Alcohol BANNED in pubs, plus 6pm curfew

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Welsh pubs will be forced to close at 6pm and banned from selling alcohol drinks from Friday as the country is plunged into a new lockdown just weeks after the last one ended.

First Minister Mark Drakeford outlined a raft of measures for the hospitality sector this afternoon following a sharp uptick in coronavirus infections, especially among the under-25s.

Pubs, bars and restaurants will only be allowed to remain open until 6pm from Friday, and operate as takeaways afterwards. And they will not be allowed to serve alcoholic drinks under a scheme like that in place in Scotland for weeks.

Under the new programme, cinemas, bowling alleys and other indoor entertainment venues will also  close, but non-essential retail, hairdressers, gyms and leisure centres can stay open.

The move follows the previous ‘firebreak’ lockdown between October 23 and November 9. When that ended, people were allowed to meet indoors in groups of up to four people in places like pubs and restaurants, with no alcohol sales before 6pm and a 10.20pm curfew. 

Up to 15 people were also allowed to take part in ‘an organised indoors activity’ like an exercise class, and non-essential retain reopened.

But coronavirus cases have risen from 160 per 100,000 to 210 per 100,000 in the past 10 days, an increase of 31 per cent.

Mr Drakeford told a Welsh Government press conference that coronavirus was ‘accelerating across Wales’ and the gains achieved during the country’s 17-day firebreak lockdown were being eroded.

He said that unless action was taken now, the number of people with coronavirus in Welsh hospitals could reach 2,200 by January 12.  The restrictions will be formally reviewed by December 17 and then every three weeks.

Mr Drakeford said he was ‘grateful’ for what the hospitality industry had done and acknowledged that the new restrictions would be ‘difficult’ as they come at one of the busiest times of the year.

He told the briefing ‘The measures we are taking are based on what the UK SAGE group of experts tells us has worked best elsewhere.’

‘To support businesses affected by these new restrictions into the New Year, we will provide the most generous package of financial assistance anywhere in the UK,’ he added.

The £340million package  will include £180million specifically for tourism, leisure and hospitality business which is in addition to various support schemes available from the UK Government. 

But the Tory leader in Wales, Paul Davies, criticised the move saying the nation needed ‘targeted interventions rather than blanket restrictions across the whole of Wales’.

‘This blanket approach across all of Wales is disproportionate and will unfairly affect parts of the country where infection rates are significantly lower than others, and will harm the sector to such an extent that large parts of it may not recover,’ he said.

‘This is after they have invested hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of pounds on making their premises as safe as possible.

‘With the best will in the world, and especially in the run-up to Christmas, if pubs and cafes cannot sell alcohol with meals, it could encourage people to drink at home and in groups. All the evidence so far has shown that these sorts of interactions are generally more likely to be a cause of transmission.’

Mr Drakeford also warned people not to try to ‘game’ lockdown rules after Welsh police admitted they had fined English visitors over the weekend after they sneaked over the border to shop for Black Friday bargains. 

In other coronavirus twists and turns today:

• Some High Street shops will open 24 hours a day in December in a desperate bid to offset the £900million a day economic hit of the new tier restrictions; 
• The Prime Minister announced a £20million boost for medicine manufacturing in the UK in a bid to strengthen the country’s response to future pandemics; 
• A further 215 people who tested positive for Covid died in hospital in England in the last 24 hours with another 12,155 lab-confirmed cases in the UK.
• Professor Peter Openshaw, of Imperial College, a member of an official virus advisory group, said a Covid vaccine could be available ‘as early as next week’.
• Under new guidelines, Santa’s grottos can open but with Father Christmas in a mask and children banned from sitting on his knee.

Dozens of English shoppers were caught crossing into Wales at the weekend – as police cracked down on lockdown rule breakers.

Officers were granted new powers on Friday to stop cars coming into the country and issue fixed penalty notice.

And within 24 hours, South Wales Police reported stopping 110 drivers – with 12 slapped with fines.

A further 15 caught in Cardiff flouting English lockdown rules were warned and ordered to leave the city.   

Among those caught in breach of Covid legislation were a couple who had travelled over 200 miles from Essex to deliver Christmas presents. 

Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Chief Superintendent Wendy Gunney, said: ‘I would like to thank the vast majority of people who are enjoying their weekend with caution and within the confines of the existing regulations, but those not adhering to the rules are continuing to put others at increased risk.’

England is still officially in lockdown, but as of December 2 Wales will be bordered by counties in Tier 2. But it is just a short hop along the M4 from Bristol, North Somerset and Gloucestershire, which are in Tier 3.  

Last Thursday, 16 of 22 local authorities in Wales recorded rises in their seven-day rolling case rate.

The overall rate for Wales was 187 cases per 100,000 people on Friday, an increase of 17 per cent from 160 cases per 100,000 people in a week. 

Today it was 210 cases per 100,000, Mr Drakeford said. 

During the firebreak, and in the weeks immediately after it, the reproduction rate or R number fell below one.

But the latest calculations suggest this now could be as high as 1.4, giving further evidence that coronavirus is circulating ‘widely and quickly’.

Pubs, bars and restaurants have been open in Wales since the firebreak ended on November 9, with a 10pm curfew on alcohol sales.

Mr Drakeford said that imposing new restrictions on the hospitality industry in Wales is a ‘matter of deep regret’.

He said people meeting in hospitality settings were not having ‘glancing contact’ with others, such as in a supermarket, but sitting together for a period of time.

‘When we get together in that way, whether its in our own home or in a hospitality setting, the virus thrives and the cases rise and we end up with the position that we see in Wales today,’ he said.

‘It is a matter of deep regret because of all the work that the sector has done and all the people that work in it, that we are having, as in England and as in Scotland, to add this measure to the repertoire of actions that we are taking to make sure that when we go into that Christmas period, those five days when restrictions will be relaxed for households, we’ve created a position in which the risk to one another and to our health service can be contained.’ 

But organisations including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), and the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) criticised the decision for threatening the futures of businesses.

Ian Price, CBI Wales director, said: ‘The First Minister’s announcement is devastating for a Welsh hospitality sector that’s already reeling from a damaging cycle of restrictions.

‘Pubs, restaurants and shops that should be buzzing at this time of year now face a hugely uncertain future, with closures and job losses all but guaranteed.

‘For those firms that have struggled on, the loss of the all-important festive trading period could very well be the last straw.’

Nik Antona, national chairman of consumer group CAMRA, said: ‘Restrictions that force hundreds of pubs to close and devastate trade for those able to remain open to serve meals could be the final straw for Welsh pubs and the breweries that supply them.

‘There is simply no evidence that a draconian alcohol ban will stop the spread of Covid-19. What is clear is that our pub culture is being used as a convenient scapegoat for the spread of the pandemic.’

James Calder, chief executive of SIBA, said: ‘The decision to ban the sale of alcohol in hospitality from Friday will be the final blow for small breweries and pubs in Wales who rely on the Christmas trading period for a substantial percentage of their annual income.

‘There is no evidence to justify these new targeted restrictions.’

It came as Boris Johnson faced mounting pressure to think again on his draconian tier system today as it was revealed that Covid infections have already plummeted by a third across England since the second national was imposed.

The Prime Minister is desperately scrambling to defuse a massive Tory revolt by offering a series of concessions, including an expiry date, detailed impact assessments, and more money for pubs and restaurants, and ahead of a crunch Commons vote tomorrow.

But ministers have admitted that up to 100 Conservatives are on the verge of joining the mutiny, with fury that just 1 per cent of England is being been in the lowest level of restrictions from Wednesday, with many areas in Tier 3 even though they have seen few or no infections.

Labour is set to save Mr Johnson’s bacon by refusing to help kill off the measures, but being forced to rely on Sir Keir Starmer’s support would be devastating for the premier’s authority.

The backlash was fuelled today with Imperial College’s huge monthly React survey finding a dramatic falll off in cases – in line with the daily figures being released by the government.

The study of 105,000 people found cases fell to 72,000 infections per day between November 13 and 24, from around 100,000 per day at the end of October.

This means cases are down a third in England and have halved in the North West and North East – boosting hopes that much of the North could be moved down into Tier Two.

The daily Department of Health data yesterday showed a further 12,155 cases and 215 deaths – down from 18,662 cases and 398 last Sunday. 

In Scotland today, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she may meet her parents outside on Christmas Day but will not have an ‘indoor Christmas dinner’ with them because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon, who will address the SNP conference later,  said she would ‘dearly love’ to see her parents for the first time since the summer but does not want to put them at risk.

The last time she saw her parents was on July 19 – the day of her 50th birthday.

Ms Sturgeon told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Normally, Christmas, my husband and I would have both our families here in our own home.

‘We will not be doing that this year.’

She added: ‘I’ve not seen my parents since July and I would dearly love to see them today and at Christmas but I don’t want to put them at risk when a vaccine is so close.

‘We might go and have a family walk somewhere but the idea … of an indoors Christmas dinner is something we will not do this year.’

Speaking previously about whether she would meet her parents at Christmas, Ms Sturgeon ruled out having dinner with them and said she was ‘thinking carefully’ about meeting them at all.

She said she and her husband normally host a gathering of more than 10 people at their home on Christmas Day, including both sets of parents.

Ms Sturgeon told a Scottish Government coronavirus briefing: ‘We will not be doing that this year – absolutely not – because I think that would be outwith any kind of reasonable limits and I don’t want to put elderly parents or mother-in-law at risk so we will not do that.’

Scotch eggs all round! Environment Secretary George Eustice says snack DOES count as a ‘substantial meal’ and you CAN finish your drink once you’ve eaten it in bid to clarify bizarre No10 diktat

A scotch egg will count as a ‘substantial meal’ and a much-criticised diktat forcing drinkers to leave pubs or restaurants as soon as they have eaten their food will be scrapped, a minister revealed today.

Environment Secretary George Eustice has said the popular egg and sausagemeat snack will allow people to visit the pub in Tier 2 with friends or family for an alcoholic drink.

Previously his cabinet colleague Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick claimed a snack like a pasty on its own doesn’t count as a ‘substantial meal’ unless it is served with chips and salad. 

Mr Eustice said: ‘I think a Scotch egg would probably count as a substantial meal if there were table service. This is a term that’s understood in licensing’.

The move is likely to mean that a scotch egg will be popping up on almost every pub menu in England in the run-up to Christmas. 

One pubgoer tweeted today: ‘First it was a pasty with a side salad, now its a scotch egg with table service. Next it will be a packet of crisps as long as you don’t wash your hands after going the toilet’. One wag wrote: ‘Twenty Jagerbombs and a scotch egg please landlord’. While another tweeted: ‘Quickly buy shares in scotch egg manufacturers they are gonna go through the roof’.

The Environment Secretary also said today that customers will not have to go home after finishing the final mouthful of their food but warned: ‘You can’t sit at a table all night ordering drink’.

On Friday Tier 2 diners in England were told by No 10 that they cannot linger at all after their food is finished – and would be expected to go home even when they have more left to drink after the national lockdown ends on December 2.

Just over 700 pubs in Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly will be able to open to everyone from Wednesday – with the remaining 37,500 in England forced to serve alcohol if bought with a ‘substantial meal’ in Tier 2 or offer takeway or close completely in Tier 3. Thousands of jobs are set to go.  

The U-turn came as it was revealed the Government is also planning extra cash or bars and restaurants hit by upper-tier closures. A source told The Daily Telegraph: ‘There are already grants of £2,000 and £3,000 for businesses in Tiers 2 and 3 but we recognise we need to do more.’   

The rules has left many pubs weighing up whether it was even commercially viable to trade. Mr Johnson’s tiers plan has enraged the hospitality trade who already believe pubs, bars and eateries are being unfairly blamed for the spread of coronavirus. Just 5 per cent of Covid-19 cases have been transmitted in the hospitality industry in the UK. 

Tory MP Nigel Evans said today: ‘We really need the data to demonstrate that it really is the hospitality trade that’s the devil here’.

Landlords will still be expected to ask their customers to leave – or face hefty fines for breaching the Government‘s strict coronavirus legislation – with critics accusing the PM of treating the public ‘like children’.

One critic tweeted: ‘How the f*** can having an extra glass of wine after your meal at the same table increase your chances of getting coronavirus?’. 

Pubs are launching so-called ‘Boris menus’ of cheap tapas-style plates of food that drinkers can be order through the day so they can enjoy a drink with family or friends after December 2.  

A substantial meal is defined by the Government as a ‘full breakfast, main lunchtime or evening meal’ – with Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick claiming a pasty on its own doesn’t count, but when served with chips and salad it does.

JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has branded Boris Johnson’s contentious tier system ‘lockdown by stealth’ as landlords said the policy amounts to ‘business torture’.

A spokesman for Mitchells & Butlers, which runs All Bar One, blasted the decision as ‘a kick in the teeth’.  

Social media users were quick to join a pile on against the new restrictions. 

Lianne Fallon wrote: ‘This would be funny if it wasn’t so absolutely ludicrous. Why have we allowed a govt to think they can dictate to us the minutiae of our everyday lives? This is a terrifying path we are being led down.’

Coral Musgrave said: ‘Waiter: can I clear the table? Diner: not yet, there’s still some food on my plate (one pea) so I have not finished eating yet, but you could get me another pint please. Note: please leave the staff a good tip because most of them have not had any wages for weeks.’

Matt Dean added: ‘They haven’t learned that if you make the rules too ridiculous and indefensible people stop following the sensible ones.’

Fiona Magee said she worked in a pub and could not see how the rules were enforcable.

She wrote: ‘I work in a pub. This is virtually impossible to enforce. Just bonkers. And why, if this rule is introduced, suddenly extend opening by one hour from 10pm to 11pm – most pub kitchens close way earlier than last orders – if you don’t want people drinking without also eating??’ 

The Prime Minister has imposed brutal Tier 2 and 3 rules on 99 per cent of the country with the restrictions expected to last until mid-January at the earliest.  

Mr Martin, the founder and chairman of the chain, said 366 of its pubs will remain closed in light of new tiered measures – sending its shares diving. While analysis by real estate specialists Altus Group has said that 16,010 pubs will remain closed in Tier 3 areas. 

Mr Martin said: ‘These rules greatly reduced pub capacity and provided strict social distancing and hygiene standards but, with difficulty, allowed pubs to trade viably.

‘It is very disappointing that yet another raft of regulations has been introduced which has effectively closed half our pubs. In reality, the government has extended a form of lockdown, by stealth, in large swathes of the country.’

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Mitchells & Butlers  said the decision to only allow alcohol with ‘substantial meals’ would be ‘incredibly damaging’ to the sector.

They added: ‘The government seems intent on singling out hospitality for punitive measures and we urge the government to acknowledge the harm these restrictions will cause. 

‘The more industries such as ours continue to be singled out, and are hit hardest by restrictions, it’s vital that the Government provide targeted sector support to protect business and jobs through the winter.’

Manchester bar owner Martin Greenhow has said that businesses like his in Tier 3 are better off ‘sitting on our hands’ and claiming furlough while the British Beer and Pub Association has warned that two thirds of all pubs in Tier 2 areas are not viable with 4,600 jobs already gone this year.    

Mr Greenhow told the BBC: ‘Every tier is a mortal blow to hospitality. Tier 2 is the old Tier 3 remember and it simply doesn’t work. We’ve tried.

‘We are better sitting on our hands taking benefits, furlough and what meagre grants are available from the Government.

‘The tiers are waterboarding for our industry – we’re allowed out for a brief gasp of fiscal oxygen and we’re slammed back down. This is, pure and simple, business torture’.

But pubs and restaurants with outside space that can reopen next week are said to be enjoying a flood of bookings as friends rush to get back together for some al fresco dining and drinking when lockdown ends of December 2. 

Demand has been so high in London that many venues are fully booked. However, the British Beer and Pub Association has warned that two thirds of pubs in Tier 2 areas are not viable because they cannot serve food or host people outdoors.

The hospitality industry believes they are being unfairly punished because only around five  per cent of coronavirus infections have come from them.

Venues in Tier 3 regions such as Manchester and Newcastle can only open for takeaways, which was branded a ‘hammer blow’ for the beleaguered sector.

But Mr Johnson has said that the draconian restrictions on household mixing, which threaten to cripple pubs, clubs and restaurants, were the price that had to be paid to keep schools open this winter 

It came as the boss of Fortnum & Mason, Ewan Venters, predicted that a third of all British high street retailers could go to the wall by the spring. 

Mr Johnson imposed brutal Tier 2 and 3 rules on 99 per cent of England on Thursday, the higher category bans all hospitality business, while the other permits pubs to stay open only if they serve food and household can only mix outside with a substantial meal. 

All desperate restaurants and bars in Tier 3 can now rely on is through takeaway orders. 

James Thomas, a hotelier in Ramsgate, Kent, which is also in Tier 3, said: ‘Christmas is of vital importance to the hospitality industry because it comes before the dreaded January.

‘You can’t control the wind but you can set your sails. At the moment we have very little sail to set because we’re not allowed to get the boat out of the harbour’. 

More than 50 pubs and breweries including Greene King, Heineken and Budweiser pleaded with the Government to extend support to avoid thousands of local venues going bust.

In a letter to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak they said: ‘It would be nothing less than heart-breaking if, having survived through the last nine months, pubs now face ruin with the end of the pandemic in sight.

‘The support the Government has given us up to this point would all be for nothing, a colossal waste of resources. The looming disaster is avoidable, but only if you act now.’

Mitchells & Butlers, which owns 1,700 pubs and restaurants, said it had been forced to make 1,300 job cuts because of the pandemic.

The group fell to a £123million loss for the year to September 26, from pre-tax profits of £177million in 2019.

Revenues plunged 34 per cent to £1.5billion, and are down 50.8 per cent since the end of September due to the second lockdown.

Fuller’s, which has 400 pubs mostly in the south-east, revealed it has shed 1,000 staff, including 400 redundancies, this year. 

It fell to a £22.2million loss in the six months to September 26 after sales fell 78 per cent to £45.6million due to the first lockdown. 

The sector has already lost 4,600 jobs at Young’s, Marston’s, Greene King and Wetherspoons, and almost all businesses will go into Tiers Two and Three from December 2.

Over 38,000 pubs, restaurants, bars and hotels in England will shut in Tier Three, apart from for takeaways, affecting 38,000 workers. 

Around 120,000 venues, employing 1.5m people, will be put into Tier Two, with bosses warning that three-quarters of Tier Two hospitality businesses will make a loss because household mixing is banned and they can only serve alcohol with a ‘substantial meal’. 

The bosses of four northern pub groups, including Robinsons and Thwaites, said: ‘Livelihoods, employment and communities will be destroyed by the Government’s shameful targeting of pubs. Boris Johnson is wilfully dealing out certain economic ruin to our pubs and the North.’

Fuller’s boss Simon Emeny, who said that three-quarters of his pubs will be shut in Tier Two, said: ‘This is a savage blow to the sector. We can go to gyms and have our hair cut in all tiers, but pubs are being singled out for their own tier system.’

Mitchells & Butlers chief executive Phil Urban said: ‘I feel incredibly let down. It is bizarre and without foundation – nobody has been able to give an ounce of evidence. It is galling.’

Firms supplying pubs have also been hit. Britvic, which owns J2O and Pepsi, reported an 8.6 per cent fall in sales in the year to September 30.

It salvaged a 0.8 per cent rise in profits to £111.2million thanks in part to families in lockdown drinking at home.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘The length of exposure is one of the main factors in the spread of the virus which is why alcohol may only be served as part of a main table meal, and cannot be served once the meal is finished.

‘There is no prescribed limit for how long a meal is expected to take, however we expect people to act reasonably and exercise good judgement.’

One of Britain’s top restaurateurs has savaged the government‘s severe new tier system as a death sentence for the hospitality sector.

Richard Caring, who owns chains including The Ivy and Bill’s, believes that more than two thirds of his industry has been so mauled by lockdowns that it will never recover.

Mr Caring told MailOnline: ‘This government bounces off one wall onto another, its inexperience and inefficiencies are shown clearly in the manner they have handled this awful pandemic so far. 

‘It has turned both its inexperience and inefficiency against the hospitality industry of this country.

‘Already what was the second largest industry in this country has been permanently decimated by at least 35%, never to return.’  

Boris Johnson imposed brutal Tier 2 and 3 rules on 99% of England on Thursday, the higher category bans all hospitality business, while the other permits pubs to stay open only if they serve food.  

Mr Caring singled out as particularly vulnerable the cities of Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol ‘where the hospitality industry, hanging on by its finger nails, was hoping to be able to make some income in their most busy weeks of the year.’