Victoria bar owners say the province鈥檚 move to limit drinking hours in bars, restaurants and nightclubs to reduce the spread of COVID-19 could have long-term negative effects on the live music and food and 颅beverage industries in the city.
Measures introduced by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on Tuesday include a 10 p.m. cut-off for alcohol sales at bars and restaurants, which now must close at 11 p.m. unless full food service is provided. Nightclubs and banquet halls were also ordered to close immediately. The volume of televisions and music 鈥� both live and recorded鈥� must not exceed conversational level in those establishments.
The changes were made following an uptick in COVID-19 cases linked to establishments where alcohol is sold, Henry said. But the new restrictions 鈥� timed to coincide with the end of summer and start of post-secondary school 鈥� could have unintended consequences, according to some in the industry.
鈥淲e have staff following protocols and procedures and tracing modules, all sorts of things that are put in place to manage the restrictions,鈥� said Grant Olson, co-owner of the Strathcona Hotel on Douglas Street, which is home to some of the city鈥檚 most popular social establishments, including the Sticky Wicket.
鈥淲e鈥檙e taking every precaution possible. But when you have to stop service at 10 p.m., it makes people that are going out at night think about whether they should even go out. I just wonder if, in the fall, 20 or 30 younger people will end up not spatially controlling themselves in someone鈥檚 house instead.鈥�
Revenue at the Strathcona Hotel complex was already down 鈥渟ignificantly鈥� due to COVID-19, said Olson, who expects the new measures to reduce revenue by a further 15 per cent. Measures introduced by Henry on July 22 requiring all patrons in restaurants, bars and nightclubs to be seated resulted in a 10 to 15 per cent drop in food and beverage revenue at a time when business was trending up, Olson said.
The new curfew will further curb late-evening business at the hotel, 鈥渨hich for us is fairly 颅significant,鈥� said Olson.
The changes forced Olson to cut the music program at the hotel鈥檚 popular Rooftop Patio. Singer-guitarist Deborah Gold, who had been providing live music at the venue since mid-July, lost all of her gigs following Tuesday鈥檚 announcement, and feels the new restrictions will affect the growing number of customers who enjoyed hearing live music 鈥� a rarity around the city in recent months. 鈥淚n my mind, nobody is better set up than the Strathcona Rooftop for what is going on in the world right now, in terms of the pandemic,鈥� Gold said. 鈥淭hey have it really set up well for safe social distancing.鈥�
Most nightclubs in the city have remained closed during the pandemic, but the outright ban put in place Tuesday created new pressure for nightclub operators. Dave Bain, program and strategy manager for the Frontier Group, which owns local venues Duke Saloon, Upstairs Cabaret and two Darcy鈥檚 Pub locations, said he won鈥檛 consider booking live concerts until at least late 2021. 鈥淣ightclubs and live music usually run six to eight months in advance. That means if we have a vaccine tomorrow, we won鈥檛 be completely ready to go for six to eight months, unless we鈥檙e scrambling. And that鈥檚 just not fair to us.鈥�
Nightclubs differ from restaurants and pubs in that close contact cannot be avoided. The Frontier Group closed Duke Saloon and Upstairs Cabaret in March and has not tried to force a reopening plan, but there will need to be talk of a recovery plan at some point, Bain said. He said nightclubs will likely be among the last businesses to return to normal once COVID-19 cases subside.
鈥淚t has been incredibly hard, financially, on our industry. [Henry鈥檚] move to restrict nightclubs is obviously following the science behind COVID-19, and we welcome that. But we would also welcome some review of nightclubs, especially getting some kind of support, more so than what we鈥檝e seen so far. Rents still need to be paid, even at a substantial discount.鈥�