UKHospitality Cymru urges Welsh Government to bring forward indoor reopening date
The trade body notes that cases of Coronavirus in Wales are now at their lowest level since the autumn, at below 20 infections per 100,000 people.
With both England and Scotland set to reopen hospitality for indoor service on 17 May, UKHC says there is simply no reason First Minister Mark Drakeford cannot indicate that pubs and restaurants in Wales could unlock before then or, at the very least, align with the same date.
Drakeford has been hesitant to provide a reopening date for indoor hospitality in Wales, but has suggested they could reopen in time for the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May.
Outdoor hospitality settings in Wales are expected to open on 26 April.
“There are simply no reasons now why our First Minister, in his three-weekly review on 22 April, couldn’t indicate that we could be open before England and Scotland or at the very latest alongside England and Scotland on 17 May," says David Chapman, UKHC executive director.
“UKHC is asking him to reopen the industry. Customers are keen; businesses are desperate; workers want stability and a release from uncertainty and anxiety about their jobs. An early opening would help key businesses survive, boost local communities and the Welsh economy as a whole and lift the mood of Wales tremendously."
Earlier this month it was reported that Matt Connolly, founder of Sticky Fingers Street Food in Cardiff, had launched a legal challenge against the Welsh Government's failure to set out a reopening date for indoor hospitality.
Connolly has hired law firm JMW Solicitors, which is handling Sacha Lord's legal challenge against the delayed reopening of hospitality in England, to oversee the case.
