Edinburgh business leader says he hopes for return to normality 'by next Easter'

Some bars and restaurants may not reopen even when they are allowed to
Restaurants and bars are waiting to hear when they can reopenRestaurants and bars are waiting to hear when they can reopen
Restaurants and bars are waiting to hear when they can reopen

BUSINESS leaders in the Capital say it could be next Easter before normality returns to the heart of Edinburgh.

Looking ahead for the next 50 days, Roddy Smith, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, said city-centre shops, restaurants, bars and attractions were just waiting to hear when they could reopen and what special requirements they would have to meet to preserve social distancing.

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But Scotland is taking a more cautious approach than England and the earliest date mentioned by Boris Johnson for shops and some hospitality venues there opening again was early July so it is unlikely to be before then.

Edinburgh business leader says he hopes for return to normalityEdinburgh business leader says he hopes for return to normality
Edinburgh business leader says he hopes for return to normality

Mr Smith said he was still working on the assumption that hospitality would be one of the last sectors to reopen and he was surprised to hear July as a possible date for resumption.

And he warned some bars and restaurants may decide not to reopen even when they are told they can do so.

“Each hospitality business will have to look at its own operation and the viability of opening if they can only open in a very small way.

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“They will have to decide whether it’s worth their while to open or not. Bars and restaurants are scenario planning. Until they know the conditions they can’t do the specifics.”

He suggested some businesses with four or five units in the city might decide to reopen some units but not others.

“They need to know that from September 1 or October 1 or whatever the Scottish Government decides ‘This is what you can do, these are the social distancing regulations, this is how you would be allowed to operate’ and then they will make their own decisions. And no-one knows whether this will go until December or next March or when.

“Hopefully by the time we get, probably, to next Easter we might be getting back to some sort of normality.

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“And I don’t think anyone is expecting lots of international tourist until next summer.”

Mr Smith said social distancing would also be tricky in shops. “It will take a while for people to come and do their shops as they used to.”

And he said: “I think there won’t be as many people working in the city centre as there were before Covid - people working in offices will be staggered back, they may work in shifts, so you will have less people in the city centre, which would then dictate there might be less demand for coffee shops and supermarkets, for example.”

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