Coronavirus restrictions have been brutal on Harrogate’s hospitality sector. Marik Scatchard, the landlord of Christies Bar on Kings Road, explains what it has been like running one of the town’s most popular pubs.
New Year’s Eve last year was a busy night and at that point, we had no idea how the year would turn out.
It was terrible when we got locked down in March. We had to throw about £2,000 or £3,000 worth of beer down the drain. That didn’t feel good.
We got the £25,000 grant which the government thought would see us through, but the pub company we are with charged full rent during the closure. It didn’t help us – it just helped the pub company.
I was in favour of the lockdown because nobody knew what was going to happen. The virus is not great for some people.
Because I’ve got three children in school, I’ve had two lots of having to isolate for 14 days, and we all got covid at one point. We were all alright after two or three days. I didn’t really have any symptoms. My partner was rough for three or four days. My little lad, you wouldn’t have known he had it if he didn’t have a test.
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During the lockdown, I went into the pub to collect post and make sure it was secure. I’ve been a landlord at Christies for 13 years but it was horrible seeing the pub empty. It’s worse now seeing it empty because, before, everywhere was closed, so you took it on the chin.
When the last lockdown happened in November, everywhere was open except hospitality. It feels like we’ve been unfairly treated compared to other sectors. All these shops are rammed but you can’t come into a pub and sit at a distance, it doesn’t make any sense.
Christies Bar, Kings Road.
But when we reopened in July, we spent a lot of money to make sure it was covid safe. We’ve had no cases in the pub and we were very busy in summer. We thought, ‘if it carries on like this, we’ll be alright for Christmas’.
We very much depend on conference trade. There are massive ones in July and September. The British and International Golf Greenkeeping Association conference is usually in January and we can take about £30,000 in just three days. That will be gone next year.
You can’t see an end to it and I don’t think we’ll be open properly until Easter. But I think trade will be good again.
