The Bar­keep­ers and Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (BOATT) is re­new­ing its call for the Prime Min­is­ter to re­con­sid­er the cur­rent re­stric­tions on bars, be­cause of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, warn­ing of im­pend­ing per­ma­nent clo­sure and bank­rupt­cy of sev­er­al of those busi­ness­es.

In their lat­est mis­sive to the PM, the As­so­ci­a­tion is ask­ing Dr Row­ley and the Gov­ern­ment to con­sid­er al­low­ing these busi­ness­es to op­er­ate at half ca­pac­i­ty, while main­tain­ing the strictest health and safe­ty pro­to­cols.

The full text of the BOATT state­ment fol­lows…

ME­DIA RE­LEASE FROM THE BAR­KEEP­ERS AND OP­ER­A­TORS AS­SO­CI­A­TION OF TRINIDAD AND TO­BA­GO

The Bar­keep­ers and Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go is plead­ing with the Prime Min­is­ter to re­lax the present re­stric­tion on bars, to al­low our busi­ness­es to op­er­ate at 50% ca­pac­i­ty, to­geth­er with the full im­ple­men­ta­tion and ad­her­ence to the health guide­lines at our es­tab­lish­ments.

Bar own­ers, em­ploy­ees (and by ex­ten­sion, our fam­i­lies) have en­dured tremen­dous chal­lenges and strug­gles over the past 8 months, both men­tal­ly and fi­nan­cial­ly. Bar own­ers are strug­gling to make ends meet, as the cur­rent ‘buy and go’ sys­tem isn’t prof­itable. Ris­ing debt has be­come part of the norm, while some have al­ready wit­nessed their life sav­ings, hard-work and in­vest­ments van­ish, and are now at the point of bank­rupt­cy.

Present­ly, per­sons are giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty with an ac­cept­able mea­sure of risk, to con­gre­gate in groups of ten and can con­sume al­co­hol in all pub­lic spaces in Trinidad and To­ba­go, ex­cept on the premis­es and precincts of bars which are li­censed to do so. The As­so­ci­a­tion is on­ly ask­ing for equal op­por­tu­ni­ty for bars.  The risk fac­tor will be min­i­mum at bars due to their con­trolled en­vi­ron­ments.

We have all rein­vent­ed our­selves, did per­son­al train­ing, and im­ple­ment­ed all the prop­er health guide­lines and pro­to­cols to cre­ate a safe and con­trolled en­vi­ron­ment for our pa­trons.

We urge the gov­ern­ment, through the TTPS and health in­spec­torate, to hold all bar own­ers ac­count­able for their in­di­vid­ual es­tab­lish­ments and wel­come the nec­es­sary con­trols and fines as­so­ci­at­ed with non-com­pli­ance.

If the present re­stric­tions are not re­laxed, then gov­ern­ment fi­nan­cial as­sis­tance will be need­ed, as well as new con­sul­ta­tions with all stake­hold­ers on a new way for­ward for our in­dus­try. We are not ask­ing for any hand­outs or grants but gov­ern­ment se­cured loans to sus­tain our busi­ness­es and pro­vide for our em­ploy­ees and fam­i­lies. These loans would be at no cost to the tax­pay­ers, as they would be re­paid in a time­ly man­ner.

The Bar­keep­ers and Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion is plead­ing with the Prime Min­is­ter to find it in his heart to al­low for equal op­por­tu­ni­ty to bar own­ers and em­ploy­ees to earn a liv­ing and sur­vive in the ‘New Nor­mal’.