Leeds Tier 3 lockdown: Leeds bar Hedonist welcomes Tier 3 closures for pubs and bars

A Leeds bar owner says that Leeds entering Tier 3 lockdown - which will close pubs and bars - is actually a good thing for the pub trade in the city.
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Bruce Lerman, co-owner of Hedonist Bar on Briggate, Leeds has said the rising of the alert level to ‘Very High’ across the city which will close pubs and bars that do not serve substantial meals is beneficial to the bar.

Since the introduction of the curfew, the bar has lost 60 per cent trading time and turn over has dropped by 70 per cent.

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The bar is currently only able to seat 18 people compared to the usual total of 40 due to distancing regulations.

HedonistHedonist
Hedonist

Mr Lerman said: “Closure is beneficial to us because consumer confidence is non-existent and part of that is actually because of the curfew rather than the tiered system.

“For a bar of our size, the support given to the council by the government will be able to help us but for some of our peers it won’t be able to touch a fraction.

“This closure just should have started at the beginning of October so that the hospitality industry had a hope in hell at pulling back Christmas trade.”

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Hedonist Bar is a neighbourhood bar which welcomes a lot of its punters post-work day, but since the ‘work from home’ guidance was given their trade has “dropped off a cliff.”

Bruce added: “We’ve had to reduce staff hours which reduces their take home pay and a lot of our staff are not affording to live.

“We’ve been very open and honest with our staff and we want to support them but we can’t pay any of their wages with no money coming through the tills.”

Bruce said his landlord had been very understanding of previous difficulty throughout the pandemic but fears closure will require another difficult conversation with him about rent payments.

Current Tier 3 rules:

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According to government guidelines, you must not socialise with anybody you do not live with or haven’t formed a support bubble with, in any indoor setting or in any private garden or at most outdoor hospitality venues and ticketed events.

You must not socialise in a group of more than 6 in an outdoor public space such as a park or beach, the countryside, a public garden or a sports venue.

Pubs and bars must close in Leeds; they can only remain open where they operate as if they were a restaurant, which means serving substantial meals, like a main lunchtime or evening meal.

They may only serve alcohol as part of such a meal, the government guidelines state.

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Schools, colleges and universities are to remain open in the city.

Places of worship remain open, but household mixing is not permitted.

Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of attendees.

However, wedding receptions are not allowed.

Exercise classes and organised sport can continue to take place outdoors.

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These will only be permitted indoors if it is possible for people to avoid mixing with people they do not live with or share a support bubble with; there are exceptions for supervised activities for under-18s, and disability sport.

You should try to avoid travelling outside the very high alert level area you are in or entering a very high alert level area, other than for things like work, education or youth services, to meet caring responsibilities or if you are travelling through as part of a longer journey

You should avoid staying overnight in another part of the UK if you are resident in a very high alert level area, or avoid staying overnight in a very high alert level area if you are resident elsewhere.

At the moment the current Tier 2 and Tier 3 rules apply for Christmas, unless the government either relaxes the rules or ends the lockdown before Christmas Day.

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