CORONAVIRUS: NI pubs shut ahead of St Patrick’s Day

Bars in Lurgan, including the Courthouse Bar, the Batcave and the Woodville, are to close this evening (Monday, March 16) ahead of tomorrow’s national feast day.

In Portadown some bars are also closing but others are remaining open offering take away services and even selling toilet rolls to customers.

Today the Irish National Foresters in Lurgan cancelled one of the biggest festivities of the year.

They said: “Unfortunately due to ongoing issues around the corona virus and the recommendations on social distancing it has been decided in the best interest of all our customers and staff to close from tonight (Monday) until Wednesday.

“Anyone who purchased tickets for the St Patrick’s Day festivities will receive a full refund.

“We would like to thank everyone for their support at this difficult time.”

Also today Master McGrath said it would close until further notice.

Their statement said: “Due to recommendations from Hospitality Ulster On “Social Distancing”, the Bar will be closed until further notice, to protect both staff & customers & also hoping to help us all get over this horrible virus sooner rather than later. Off-Sales will remain open with daily updates.”

The Courthouse Bar and the Woodville Bars shared a statement saying: “The Management of Thomas McConaghy & Sons are constantly monitoring the escalating situation of the Covid-19 outbreak to make sense of our best course of action amidst the changing and sometimes conflicting advice.

“After careful consideration of the information currently available to us, it is with much regret that we have taken the decision to close our bars from 6pm Monday 16th until Wednesday 18th March @ 11:30am

“The St. Patrick’s Day holiday is one of the busiest pub days of the year and we feel that the current government and trade body guidelines of Social Distancing would be impossible for us to manage safely over this busy period.

“These are unprecedented times and the health and well-being of our customers, staff and wider community is paramount above all else. We will continue to monitor closely this very fluid situation and take whatever steps necessary to maintain a safe environment for you to celebrate with us again when it is safe to do so.

“The Woodville Arms & Courthouse Off sales will remain open as normal and our bars will resume normal trading on Wednesday.”

Meanwhile the Batcave Lurgan said: “In light of recent developments and their rapid pace, we have taken the decision to close the bar on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th March.

“The health and wellbeing of staff and customers is paramount, and we are fully aware that in order to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, we must practice social distancing wherever and whenever possible. As the St. Patrick’s holiday is one of the busiest of the year, we feel that to offer large numbers of people the chance to congregate in the current circumstances is unwise, and is likely to help spread the deadly virus. Therefore, closure is the only available option to us.

“We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause, however, we understand fully the danger that faces our staff, our customers, and all our loved ones, and must act accordingly. The off-sales will be OPEN as normal.”

Lurgan’s Vintage bar said: “After closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation over the weekend, and taking advice from Hospitality Ulster The Vintage Bar has taken the decision to cancel all St Patrick’s Day festivities and close on 17 March .

“We will reopen on Wednesday 18th for service with reduced seating facilities in line with Social Distancing advice. All of our meals are available for takeaway. We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days. Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all and heres hoping we can all celebrate and drown our shamrocks very soon.” ☘☘☘

Trevor McCann at The Corner House Bar in Derrymacash said: “We are working closely with Hospitality Ulster and are practicing social distancing on a daily basis but on St Patrick’s Day we feel this will be too hard to achieve. We will be closing the bar and off-sales 17th March and reopening Wednesday 18th March. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused. Stay safe everyone.”

In Portadown JD Tipler’s said: “We are currently trading as normal in our Restaurant and Off Licence.

“Along side this we will be starting our new takeaway menu from this evening. This will be the only Takeaway menu available.

“We appreciate at the moment you may not be keen on spending long periods of time in public places based on the current situation. This takeaway menu gives you the opportunity to have some restaurant cooked food without having to eat out.”

JD Tipler’s is also offering a unique service via its off licence by stocking toilet rolls and other sought after products. It is also offering to source groceries for customers who are unable to get goods in the supermarket.

At McKeever’s Bar (Pat C’s) in Portadown they took the reluctant decision to close.

In a statement this morning the bar said: “Due to the ever increasing threat of the coronavirus we have sought advice from the health authorities in regards of what we should do.

“Unfortunately it’s not good news. There will be no food served today, plus from 6pm tonight we will be closing our doors and will be closed until Wednesday 18th March (pending further advice).

“We know this is not what everyone wants to hear and its definitely not what we want to do but the health and safety of both our staff and customers is paramount.

“We will hopefully be open again on Wednesday but that decision will again be on the advisement of the health authorities.

“We are so sorry for any inconvenience caused and hope you all understand why we have to take these measures. Sorry again.”

Meanwhile the Stables Bar in Lurgan said this morning: “After careful consideration of the information available, we have made the decision to close our bar from 6pm today and it will not open again until Wednesday 18th @11.30am.

“The St Patrick’s Day holiday is one of the busiest pub days of the year and we feel with government and trade body guidelines of social distancing, we would not be able to manage this safely.

“Our customers and staffs health is paramount and we are doing what is necessary to ensure everyone is safe.

“Restaurant will close today @3pm and will open again Wednesday @12pm. Anyone that had made a booking, please get in contact to cancel your bookings. We apologise for any inconvenience. The offsales will be OPEN as normal.”

Also ”Fa Joe’s” Lurgan said: “In the face of the current ongoing situation we have decided that for the safety of staff, customers and general public that we will not open for Saint Patrick’s day. We will close our doors tonight at 7pm and hope to reopen after the holiday.

“Please stay safe and look after family, friends, neighbours and particularly the elderly.

“We will post regular updates as and when things change.”