Cautious move into traffic light system

Locals are being cautious about heading into local hospitality venues as the region moves into the new traffic light Covid-19 system.

Proprietors say it was a ‘slow’ and ‘uncomfortable’ weekend for local hospitality and nightclub owners as the city also dealt with a Covid-19 outbreak.

On December 2 at 11.59pm Aotearoa entered a “traffic light system” where green, orange and red settings replaced the Alert Level system in response to managing the spread of Covid-19.

Nelson, along with the rest of the South Island and parts of the North Island, went into setting ‘orange’ that recognises a medium risk for Covid-19 transmission.

From Friday hospitality venues opened with no restrictions, provided customers had proof of their double vaccinations through the My Vaccine Pass.

Nelson’s regional manager for Hospitality New Zealand, Kim Odendaal, says Bridge St bars were all geared up for a busy weekend but sadly their anticipation wasn’t met with the same excitement from punters.

“Unfortunately, it turned out to be a quiet weekend, I think with community transmissions everybody is a bit nervous about going out again,” she says.

Liquid NZ Bar owner Craig Lines says there was a lot of excitement to have town up and running again but Friday night was relatively quiet.

He says six patrons had to be turned away for not presenting their vaccine passport.

“They were quite vocal about it, which was a shame. It’s pretty tough on the staff because we have no option, we either shut or use the passport system.”

Richmond’s The Stables owner, Damian Richards, describes last weekend as “super quiet” under the vaccine pass system.

“We put it down to a general misunderstanding of the new vaccine passport system. Our staff are on hand to help people with the app, and we are all geared up and ready to go.”

Damian says, because of the new system, The Stables has lost some Christmas party bookings for the month.

On the other hand, Richmond Aquatic Centre facility manager Vaughan Hope says it was the busiest weekend they had seen in a while.

“We had systems in place to speed up passport verification and contacted existing members to pre-verify them, which cut down wait times. We also had loads more staff on, especially in the foyer area, to help people download the app.”

Vaughan says the team did an incredible job of making the vaccine pass system a simple and easy one for customers.

“The wave pool is up and running again and the whole vibe of the place seems way happier, which is great for everyone.”

General manager at Burger Culture and The Vic, Howard Williams, says the Government’s move to the traffic light system has been a big ask for hospitality staff.

“They’ve asked a lot of us in a short period of time even though they’ve probably known we were going to be at this point for months, even years,” he says.

Burger Culture and The Vic are operating under the My Vaccine Pass scheme, and with staffing shortages in the industry, Howard says staff are stretched to their limits

“At The Vic we usually we have a front of house team of over 20 coming into summer but now we’re looking at a team of 10 maximum and we’ve still got three spaces to fill.”

Howard says customers were largely well-behaved on Friday and ready with their vaccine passes, but he has his doubts as to how many unvaccinated people can slip through the net.

“With our smaller staff we can only offer bar service, but by the time people come to sign in or order they’re already walked through half the venue."

Owner of Richmond’s Wooden Spoon, Nicky Woodbury, says they were not able to open from Friday to Tuesday while a staff member awaited negative Covid test results.

“I’m pro-choice, but my staff are fully vaxed so we have a full team. Turning our back on loyal customers who have been with us for over 10 years goes against the very term hospitality and I don’t agree with it at all. We hope the public can see that it’s not our decision to refuse to serve them if they are unvaxed,” she says.

Nicky was saddened to hear it was a quiet weekend for others in hospitality.

“We’ve heard that there has been a fair amount of aggression towards other hospitality staff in other cities, which is truly unfair as we have been put in a position that’s out of our control with the vaccine passport mandate,” she says.

Nelson’s East St Café on Church St has decided to not opt into the My Vaccine Pass requirements, instead choosing to operate as a takeaway restaurant where restrictions are lessened.

In a statement from owners Vikki and Tejas Arn, while finances will suffer, they felt “uncomfortable” with only serving vaccinated patrons.

“It didn’t sit well with us to support the growing divide in the community. Our ethos has always been to create a safe place for all, and our morals and ethics are more important to us than profits.

“We’ve had overwhelming support with messages and a really great start to our first weekend of takeaways.”

Essential services will remain open to everyone, like supermarkets and petrol stations. For businesses who choose not to follow the My Vaccine Pass requirements, there are limits on the number of people who can be in that venue at one time.

Freehouse owner Eelco Boswijk says they are operating under the passport system, however, they are also uncomfortable with refusing unvaccinated entry.

“We are in hospitality and excluding people is not being hospitable. It sort of goes against the ethos of what we are trying to do.”

Manager at Bridgestone Tyre Centre Richmond, John Glen, says they won’t be turning anyone away as they are an essential business, but those without vaccination passes will be served outside the premises and those who do have them can go inside.