Fife Excluded from worst of the new lockdown restrictions but they will still be a blow to the Kingdom’s hospitality businesses

8th October 2020

Businesses across Fife have been rocked with further coronavirus rules and restrictions and the effects will be felt most in the hospitality sector. The new rules will be in force until 25 October. In Fife, it means that:

  • Pubs, cafes, bars and restaurants stay open but will only be allowed to serve food and non-alcoholic beverages indoors between 0600 and 1800
  • They will not be allowed to serve anyone indoors after 1800
  • They will be allowed to serve alcohol outside and until the current curfew of 2200
  • Hotels will be able to serve evening meals to residents but not alcohol
  • Snooker and pool halls, indoor bowling alleys, casinos and bingo halls can stay open in Fife
  • In a move that will impact businesses in many other sectors, face coverings will be mandatory in communal workspaces, such as corridors and staff canteens.

Alan Mitchell, Chief Executive of Fife Chamber, said: It is a very sad day when all you can say to so many people whose businesses and livelihoods and careers are put at serious risk, ‘it could have been worse’. And it would have been if the hospitality sector had been closed down as it has in some parts of the country. But the fact is these new restrictions in Fife are still very damaging. When added to the fact that many businesses, such as conferences and theatres, have never been allowed to open, they demonstrate that public policy is not finding the right balance between stopping covid and keeping the country open for business and for living. Until it does the economic fallout will grow, and with it the long-term damage to health and wellbeing in Scotland.

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