Pub raises a glass to new rules from beer o’clock on Friday

A publican in one of Tasmania’s most iconic towns said the early mark on Stage Two restrictions has come at the right time – but he’s already thinking ahead to Stage Three.

AT THE Richmond Arms Hotel Tom Darke has welcomed the easing of coronavirus restrictions with open arms, hearty ales and a sigh of relief.

The State Government has thrown the hospitality industry a lifeline by allowing hotels, cafes and restaurants to host up to 40 patrons from Friday afternoon — and has eased restrictions on travel and accommodation.

As the popular pub’s general manager, Mr Darke said it wasn’t a moment too soon.

General manger of the Richmond Arms Hotel, Tom Darke is excited to be ale to open his doors on Friday and poor a beer as restrictions will be eased. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“As a tourism industry, I think we feel like it’s gone on long enough. It’s time to and get moving and get back to a bit of normality,” he said.

“Seeing a few customers come in to support our hotels and restaurants will be great for everyone.”

SEE THE FULL LIST OF RESTRICTIONS WHICH APPLY FROM FRIDAY

On a good day, the hotel is capable of holding 150 people in it’s indoor and outdoor areas, but 40 is a lot better than the current limit of 10, Mr Darke said.

“It’s been a tough road … we’ve seen some hard times, we’ve had to pay a lot of bills without the income coming in so it’s important that we keep our doors open,” he said.

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“We’ve had to make some hard decisions. We’ve kept a lot of staff on JobKeeper and we’ve got them working in different fields and different areas of the hotel.”

Mr Darke said he was already looking forward to the next easing as the state’s economy begins to recover from the COVID-19 restrictions.

“The government have done a good job, a great announcement bringing this stage two forward. It gives us a little bit of confidence.

“It’s really important going forward that, we focus on getting stage three up and running sooner rather than later.”