insiderblmThe boss of Wales’ biggest brewery has called new alcohol rules “closure by stealth” and announced more than 100 managed pubs will be closed from Friday.
Brains said the majority of its 1,500 staff will be put on furlough on 80% of their wages.
Chief executive Alistair Darby said the earlier firebreak cost it £1.6m.
Welsh pubs and restaurants will be banned from selling alcohol from Friday and must close after 18:00 GMT.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said the new rules would tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.
But Mr Darby said there was “an awful stench of totalitarianism” surrounding the new rules.
Brains directly employs around 1,500 people and has 300 tenants as well as suppliers and regular trades people.
Mr Darby said the new rules for pubs were “insulting” and “a huge slap in the face” for the sector.
He called on politicians to “stop changing their mind” on what is required.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething said he understood why companies in the industry were upset, but admitted there was “no perfect balance” between protecting public health and businesses.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers, he added: “What we can do is make sure more of us will be here in the future to celebrate life events.”
However Mr Darby said the move suggests pubs and restaurants are areas of “high transmission”.
“It’s hugely frustrating and a bit insulting. It says people are not making the effort being asked of them,” he said.
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said cafes, bars and restaurants should be allowed to serve some amount of alcohol to a limited gathering of people up until 19:00, with an overall hospitality closing time of 20:00.
He also called on the Welsh Government to publish the evidence which informed the latest restrictions.
“Public trust is being eroded because people don’t understand the logic. How can four people from four different households having coffee together be safer than two people from the same household having a pint?” he said.
“At the moment this feels like no carrot and all stick and particularly punitive for areas of low Covid-19 transmission. We need a sensible compromise.”
He added the package of financial support would “not come close to enough” for businesses relying on the festive season.
UK government Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said restrictions had been lifted too quickly after Wales’ 17-day firebreak.
He told BBC Breakfast he sympathised with the Welsh Government, but added: “As a result of doing that, the virus once more got out of control, so they’ve had to slam the brakes on again.
“The example of Wales shows what can happen if you lift the restrictions in too blanket a way too soon.”
The Welsh Conservatives have accused the Welsh Government of putting jobs at risk with the new rules.
Mr Darby said the move will be felt by many thousands of other workers who supply the industry, such as electricians, plumbers and caterers.
“It will have an impact on a huge number of people who make a living from the sector and our communities who, I fear, will be deprived the opportunity to visit a pub this Christmas,” he said.
Mr Drakeford said new measures are necessary or there could be between 1,000 and 1,700 preventable deaths this winter.
But the Brains boss said: “The sector has done more than its fair share to ensure those potential deaths are avoided.
“And at the end of this, we will be asking, if lives aren’t saved, what the answer will be?”
The first minister said firms hit by the restrictions would be offered £340m in support which he claimed was “the most generous package” anywhere in the UK.
However Mr Darby said the support “would not touch the sides”.
As an £80m turnover business, Brains spent £500,000 in personal protective equipment (PPE) and digital technology for pre-booking, while it has “surrendered” huge capacity and lost summer trading, Mr Darby added.
He said: “My message to politicians is ‘you have to stop changing your mind on what is required in the sector’.
“We have done more than our fair share to ensure potential deaths are avoided at the end of this.”
‘Christmas has been cancelled’
David Cattrall, managing director of Harlech Foodservice, warned that many hospitality businesses would not survive the latest round of restrictions.
“There is a palpable sense of frustration, bewilderment and anger at the restrictions being placed upon the hospitality sector in north and mid Wales,” he said.
“The rate of the virus is lower here than in south Wales so it defies logic that we are being subjected to this damaging one-size-fits-all policy.
“The run-up to Christmas is when the sector makes enough money to keep them going through the quiet months of January and February but it’s clear now that Christmas has been cancelled as far as the hospitality sector is concerned.”
Kelly Jolliffe, owner and landlady of The Greyhound Inn in Usk, Monmouthshire, said she was “gutted” about the new restrictions.
“I was expecting it, I was hoping that it would only be shutting at 6pm, which I think we could all have managed with and could have all worked around,” she said.
“But when he banned the alcohol, I just thought there’s no point really – we’re a pub!”
She told Radio Wales Breakfast she has decided to close, despite having got the pub ready for the Christmas trade.
“We were all decked out, all socially distanced, bookings coming in, everybody working around the regulations,” she said.
Tory covid recovery spokesman Darren Millar said the restrictions could affect jobs across Wales.
He added: “With one in 10 of the Welsh workforce employed by hospitality enterprises and with so many relying on pre-Christmas trade, the Welsh Government is now putting tens of thousands of jobs and livelihoods at risk.”
