As many of you will know, Monday 18th marked the day where restaurants and cafés were allowed to open up (with restrictions) here in Portugal.
The restrictions in place include having to run at 50% capacity, distance between groups, heightened cleaning measures, and an earlier closing time of 11pm.
Here at PIE Lagos, we have been running a reasonably successful takeaway and delivery service for the last couple of months, but it was a huge relief for the team to be able to finally open the doors to a limited number of customers. As a restaurant with a large terrace, we were well placed to open, and one of the lucky few establishments who can offer a place to both eat and drink.
However, with this excitement and relief, comes the all-too-obvious reality that many of our friends and colleagues in Lagos are still suffering with the forced closures. Bars and nightclubs in Portugal have been given no re-opening date. Whilst it is understandable that the government wants to proceed with caution in this area, it seems to be a strange and unfair development that establishments with the correct sort of license (restaurant / snack bar) are now allowed to open across the board, whilst the bars are forced to remain closed. Many bars with the luck of having a snack bar license, have been able to put a couple of easy snack items on a menu, thus transforming them from bar to restaurant – and therefore enabling them to open and operate essentially as a bar.
Why be concerned you might ask? As one of the bars / restaurants lucky enough to be open right now shouldn’t we be celebrating?
Not quite.
Let’s look at the tourism prospects quickly. We are facing a severely limited, if not totally cancelled summer tourist season. The optimistic among us are still hoping for a few tourists to find their way here in August and September. Therefore, our local economy is going to be largely kept afloat by locals and residents.
A huge percentage of our town and indeed the country are bar owners, or employees. During the winter season many bars were closed, and employees were taking some well-deserved time off – with no way of foreseeing the terrible months to come. Bar owners have been faced with zero takings, and employees have taken zero wages for many months now. Many are facing dire prospects.
In order for the whole town to survive and thrive, we need our friends/family/associates to be allowed to earn money. When nobody has any money, they will not be going out to spend it in the local businesses, that so desperately need the custom. The bars are well aware of the restrictions and safety measures that need to be put into place, and most can do so as easily as the restaurants and cafes that have already opened.
Consumer spending is potentially the only way we are going to be able to help our floundering economy. By keeping the bars closed, we feel strongly that we are making it harder for EVERYONE to recover.
And we miss the bars! We all want to support our friends and their businesses by visiting for a beer/cocktail/glass of wine!
Please take 5 seconds to sign the petition below, to ask the government to get our much loved bars open asap.
https://peticaopublica.com/mobile/pview.aspx?pi=PT99942
Thank you, much love
PIE Lagos.