Government 'will kill pub trade', says Wolverhampton landlord
A Wolverhampton pub landlord near the border with South Staffordshire fears the Government will end up "killing the pub trade".
Gareth Woods, 40, who runs The Fieldhouse, on Perton Road, in Tettenhall Wood, labelled the new local restrictions "unfair".
His pub, which lies just on the Wolverhampton boundary, must adhere to stricter rules than those just over the border.
Mr Woods, who has ran the pub for 11 years, said: "I don't think it is fair that there are less restrictions in South Staffordshire, despite it being just down the road.
"If I was a massive boozer, fair enough, but in here it is tiny.
"They couldn't make it any harder for you. We are here to sell the beer not be the police."
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He added: "The other day, I had three lads come here. They had been working together all day, passing tools to each other and sitting in the same van. But they said 'We are going to sit outside' because they didn't think they could sit together inside. But they had worked together all day.
"The rules are confusing people."
He added: "I can't see how the pubs can survive with the cards they have been dealt. They [the Government] have killed the trade."
Mr Woods said he felt "sorry" for pubs just over the border, in South Staffordshire, because people will be encouraged to go to the pubs there and, in turn, causing the area's coronavirus rates to rise.
It's not just pubs feeling the strains. So are families too.
Mr and Mrs Harbhajan and Jean Nijjar, both 81, who live on Wergs Hall Road, on the Wolverhampton border, can no longer see their family in Staffordshire.
Mrs Nijjar said: "Our son lives over the border in South Staffs. Obviously we can't see our family which is upsetting.
"I think the Government have got a really hard job to do."
