Clubs SA wants meals, alcohol restrictions eased as SA pubs set to reopen as early as June

Clubs SA says changes for its sector are also essential, as the State Government considers a hotels industry timetable for reopening – and the ability for venues to have 50 people at time.

Sports clubs have warned that many community matches won’t be able to kick off unless they can also open their bars and bistros to patrons, to drive new cash income that literally keeps the lights on.

As Premier Steven Marshall and the Australian Hotels Association work on plans that could allow for a pint at the pub when phase two restrictions are set to be eased on June 8, Clubs SA says changes for its sector are also essential.

Teams can train together from Monday in groups of 10 or less. From next month, current plans would have that increase to 20 and Mr Marshall has said some competitive matches could resume. Pubs openings could be fast-tracked to the same time.

Clubs SA chief executive Mike Penfold said it was essential that alcohol and meal service started up at the same time as matches, so that organisations hit by the coronavirus lockdowns had the money needed to prepare for and host them.

He said providing adequate social distancing should be the test, rather than fixed number limits on patrons.

“Obviously, safety is the first priority,” Mr Penfold told The Advertiser. “There are 1300 licensed clubs in SA, and they are all small and medium businesses, and that (alcohol and food service) is how they make their revenue.

“All their funds go back into the infrastructure or uniforms. “There’s all this talk about coming back with the training, but unless the clubs have some way of paying for maintenance or fields and lighting (it won’t work).

“It’s coming into winter, so before and after training it would be great to have a place for the parents to go.”

Mr Penfold said clubs expected to find other revenue streams, like sponsorship, even harder to secure in the COVID slowdown.

“Clubs have huge footprints,” he said. “If you want to trial more people, a club is the place to do it.

“Some of them have dining capacity of 200, so you could go for half of that. “The Government has done an outstanding job, but the next step ... obviously is a large club with the appropriate social distancing.”

Alcohol service is a particularly important offer for clubs, as it attracts a higher sales margin.

Pubs, Premier plan reopening date

South Australians are poised to return to the pub as early as next month, as the State Government and industry look to fast-track a frothy.

The plan could mean allowing larger pubs to welcome 50 customers at a time.

Mr Marshall is actively considering plans from the Australian Hotels Association that would restart the pulling of pints sooner than planned.

In a road map released on Friday, the reopening of licensed pubs and bars that don’t serve food was a “future step” with no clear timeline.

But now it is in the mix for when phase two of restrictions are lifted, with the chance of a quiet drink from June 8.

From Monday, outdoor dining for restaurants and cafes is permitted if limited to 10 people.

AHA SA chief executive Ian Horne said even the plan of moving to maximum gatherings of 20 people on June 8 was not enough to make most pubs viable, and urged the Government to lift allowable numbers of patrons as long as good social distancing was observed.

He said the Government must consider allowing as many as 50 people, or more, in a venue.

Mr Marshall said: “We are now working with the industry to make sure that we can return to table service at pubs, cafes and restaurants in early June.

“I think there will be a slow start because, essentially, lifting the restrictions to 10 diners outdoors only will give some relief to very small businesses.

“But we are now working with the industry to make sure that we can return to table service at pubs, cafes and restaurants in early June.

“We are sitting down with industry at the moment working out what that viability model looks like for pubs, cafes and restaurants so that we can return them to a viable situation as quickly as we can.

“We won’t compromise health and safety, but we think that the industry are putting forward very well-considered plans that we will look at in the coming week.”

Mr Marshall told the ABC Radio Adelaide this morning’s easing of restrictions was a small start.

“Ten outdoor seats is not going to shift the dime in terms of the economics, the restaurants, cafes and pubs have been very clear that 10, nobody would open for 10,” he said.

“That’s why we’re sitting down with the sector and saying look what is the minimum viable model to open.

“We’re not pretending that this is opening up restaurants today, that won’t happen until next month.”

He said some things would work for some regions, but not others in the hospitality sector.

“For country pubs if we could get them to 40 people in their dining room that would be enough to get them back to being viable, whereas big inner city pubs will need more and sometimes they’ve got a lot more space so we’ll just work through all of those issues in a logical way.”

People in the Northern Territory will be able to have a knock-off beer this Friday for the first time since coronavirus lockdowns came into force.

In Western Australia, up to 20 customers at a time will be allowed to have a sit-down meal in a cafe, pub or restaurant from May 18, so long as there is enough room to adhere to the 4sq m of space per patron rule.

Mr Horne said spacing rules should be the key focus in SA, and the maximum number of people more flexible, to allow for the resumption of viable trade and jobs in our pubs.

“If you are going to be serious about starting, to get the maximum number of people, viability has got to come at somewhere around 40 or 50-plus (patrons),” he said.

“Smaller venues will be compromised because they won’t be able to comply with the one-in-four-square metres. But there’s a significant number of bigger hotels, clubs and restaurants that could comfortably do it.

“That’s the only way, we argue, that you get viability.”

Mr Horne said pubs would also enforce strict cleaning measures, along with the monitoring of patrons.

He said SA had done a great job fighting the virus and people were keen to celebrate.

“SA has done an extraordinary job. Look at our results,” he said.

“I think people are expecting some sort of reward. The reward is let’s start getting back to life and trust us.”