Bar owner warns Hobart night-life may never recover if locals aren’t let out in decent numbers

The Tasmanian Government hopes to allow nightclubs to reopen on July 13, with gatherings limited to 50 to 100 people depending on public health advice — but a local bar owner hopes things can move ahead quicker.

HOBART’S night-life may never recover unless locals are allowed to go out in decent numbers, one of the biggest bar operators in Salamanca is warning.

“Keep the borders closed but let the locals come out,” pleaded Ian Vaughan, the licensee of several popular venues from Cargo and Jack Greene to the Telegraph Hotel and Republic Bar.

“We’re in a unique position because our bread and butter is the local workers, the local kids from the suburbs who come in. In two months’ time there will be nowhere for them to go.”

Mr Vaughan is managing director of Pub Banc Group, which also owns Post St Social on Franklin Wharf and the Observatory nightclub upstairs, which just underwent a $2 million renovation.

Ian Vaughan. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

The company spent $3.8 million purchasing the Republic in early February and took over the lease on Elizabeth St Pier institution T42 in October.

Cargo, Jack Greene and the Republic opened during the week under the 10-person dining rule, but Mr Vaughan said most venues would struggle to make a profit, even when 20 people were allowed in from June 15.

The State Government hopes to allow nightclubs to reopen on July 13, with gatherings limited to 50 to 100 people depending on public health advice.

“Even if it’s 100 people, that’s 20 per cent capacity for the Observatory. How can a business that has just spent $2 million survive on 20 per cent of its income?” Mr Vaughan said.

“We’ve got to give people back the confidence that it’s OK to come out, because our business and other businesses are not going to survive.”

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Pub Banc Group was planning to develop the old curved Observatory and Blue Skies site on the waterfront, into an upstairs 200-space function space and new ground-floor eatery.

“That was a $7 million spend that would have created 60 jobs,” Mr Vaughan said. “Will that even happen now? Possibly not.”

In Launceston, Margaret Burt is business manager for the Norton Group, which has venues across Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland, including Launceston’s Alchemy Bar, the Empire Hotel in Queenstown and Irish Murphy’s in Hobart.

She called for Tasmania to match the decision by New South Wales to increase dining capacity to 50 people, saying the lack of consistency between states was ridiculous.

“With the restrictions in place in terms of hygiene and service standards and social distancing, we should be allowed to manage a commensurate amount of patrons,” Ms Burt said.

“What is on the line is livelihoods — the ability to bounce back and the ability to reach a level of profitability even in the distant future. The whole industry is being decimated, literally.

“People are busting to come out, but we’ve got people being turned away under the 10 person rule and that’s frustrating, seeing that dollar being turned away,” she said.

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Sarah Courtney, who is the state’s Hospitality Minister as well as Health Minister, said pubs and clubs, and the night-life they support, were “an important part of Tasmania’s way of life”.

She said the state’s expanded coronavirus testing program would help ensure venues could be opened up as quickly as possible.

“I am as keen as everyone for Tasmanian life to return to normal as soon as possible,” Ms Courtney said.

“However, a second wave of the virus caused by moving too quickly, too early, would be even more devastating to the industry and our way of life.”