‘We will have to struggle on’: Cork businesses brace for further restrictions

The decision to close restaurants and pubs before the new year will “cause havoc” to butchers, many of whom supply such premises and suffered a major financial hit during previous lockdowns.

Liam Bresnan, of Bresnan Butchers Limited in Douglas Village Shopping Centre and the English Market in Cork, said it delivers meat from its own farms to a number of high-quality restaurants in the city and county.

The butchers in Douglas only opened for business on December 1st having been closed for more than a year after a fire in a car park onsite caused huge damage to the shopping centre.

“We supply a lot of restaurants so it is going to create havoc. We had geared up as you can imagine for Christmas and new year trade. There is a supply chain as you can appreciate. We will have to comply and that is it.

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“Last time around we froze stuff but restaurants did not want frozen products. That stock was lost. We were only one of many,” said Mr Bresnan, whose family business first started trading in 1898.

Relieved

Vicki Creber, owner of Itso Me boutique, said that she was relieved to be back in business 15 months after a fire forced the closure of the centre in Douglas.

She traded in a pop-up shop in the nearby Woollen Mills over the last year and is wary of any further restrictions after the toughest time in her 11 years of business.

She said that the closure of restaurants and cafes will have a knock-on effect for trade at the centre.

“It would be terrible on the centre to see the [cafes] close in the days after Christmas. They have just got open. We are only 18 days open today.

“We have had everything thrown at us here with the fire and the flooding [in 2012 and again last year]. The traders here have huge resilience. The support has been unbelievable since I opened up. This is a community shopping centre.”

Ms Creber is wary of the rising coronavirus case numbers but is hopeful to avoid a further Level 5 lockdown.

“It is hard to plan. In the business you are buying forward all the time. You are thinking of seasons. It is all over the place.

Devastating

“You are trying to figure out stock for next year. If you buy stock you are obliged to take it even [if further restrictions come in]. My suppliers have been so good to me. To get open and to close again would be devastating.”

Douglas Village Shopping Centre manager Bartosz Mieszala was keenly anticipating the reopening of the onsite library on Friday afternoon. The library was revamped and modernised during the closure.

He said whatever restrictions come their way, traders will battle on. After a flood, a fire and a pandemic in recent years, he believes that the centre is almost bulletproof in terms of survival.

“We are kind of used to stress – dealing with disasters and problems. Most of the problems have a solution. As bad as the pandemic is, it will end at some stage. My advice always would be struggle on for a better future.”

Further restrictions will impact, he said “but there is nothing we can do about it. We will have to struggle on and look towards the light at the end of the tunnel.”