Food from Fife chair speaks about new coronavirus restrictions

The chairperson of Food from Fife has spoken out about the impact that the incoming restrictions will have on the food and drink service industry.

As of 6pm on Friday 9th October, all food venues and pubs in Scotland will only be allowed to serve food between the hours of 6am and 6pm. Alcohol will not be served indoors.

The new rules will be in place for 16 days until Sunday the 25th of October.

All pubs and restaurants in the central belt of Scotland - encompassing Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, the Lothians, Ayrshire and Annan and Forth Valley -  must close for 16 days.

The chair of Food from Fife, and owner of Balgove Larder, Will Docker said: "While on the face of it, the central belt is not the geographical area we live in, they do represent a very large proportion of our customers, particularly at weekends. They are very mobile, very good at spending and they are great customers who we will sorely miss based on the recommendation that they should not travel going forward for the next 16 days."

Discussing the impact of only serving alcohol outdoors, Docker said: "We're going into a period where we've had some extraordinary weather in the past week, we've had some pretty serious floods going into October and you don't count on the weather in Scotland in October. So we're going to have to be a little bit more openminded about what we do and what we suggest our customers do when it comes to working with the new guidance."

He continued: "With these restrictions that we're issued at very short notice, it's extremely hard to redesign a business within 48 hours notice to be profitable.

"Completely forgetting the commercial and economic impact, we need to encourage people not to deviate from the guidance we've received. It's devastating for the industry but I definitely believe that we need to stick to our guidance."