Dannevirke bars get back in business, regulars return

Merrylees Hotel co-owner Nicola McLean and staff member Kacey Johnston are happy to be back in business.

While it wasn't quite business as usual Dannevirke bars reported a successful reopening on Thursday.

Merrylees Hotel owners Nicola McLean and Daniel Phillips were excited at the prospect of opening their doors after a seven-week closure.

"Business was nice and steady and everyone was happy and followed the rules," McLean said.

"Nobody was upset at having to sign in because they knew those are the rules and they were all very good to the staff."

Plenty of regulars turned up, but because it was a Thursday many were at work, McLean said, so they looked forward to a busy weekend.

"We had patrons coming in from lunchtime onwards. Some of them didn't stay long, but they wanted to come in and say hello."

To keep within the limit of 100 patrons Merrylees staff set out 100 chairs around the different bar areas and could easily keep track of numbers.

Merrylees had put on extra staff to cope with the rules that staff had to take orders at the tables and deliver the drinks to prevent patrons ordering at the bar.

"As business owners this meant it cost us more to operate the hotel as we had a limited number of patrons but had to put on more staff. But as far as patrons were concerned everyone was just happy that things were getting back to normal."

McLean said when cafes and bars were able to reopen last week to serve meals they chose not to because it would not have been financially viable, but the dining room has now reopened.

"People are enjoying going out for meals as most are sick of having to cook for themselves."

Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club is also back in business.

The club's acting manager, Joanne Jones, said Thursday's opening had gone well and there was a good turnout of members.

"We opened the restaurant last weekend just to trial things and it went well."

On entering the club members are met at the door and asked to sign in. They then have the rules explained to them.

Mangatera Hotel manager Sam Sethi said reopening of the bar had gone well.

"We has a great response from the locals, we had a good turnout."

He said it had been quite a challenge having the bars shut.

The restaurant had reopened at level 2 and the response had been great, he said with good numbers of bookings.

Saigon Restaurant and Bar manager Son Hoang said the reopening of the sports bar went well with staff kept busy.

The restaurant reopened at level 2 and was busy over the weekend. He advised people to book ahead for meals.