A favorable epidemiological situation in Segovia has led the local government to reopen the hospitality sector on Friday, 27thof November, after three long weeks of shutdown. Local businesses have been dealing with the situation with differing success, a considerable amount of them deciding against fully reopening despite the pushback of the restrictions.
For 21 days, local bars and restaurants have been dealing with tough restrictions from the government. Some of them have been fully closed, while others offered partial services like take-away. It has become common to see an empty café with a single person serving hot drinks out the window to clients barred from sitting down at a table.
Others have decided to offer delivery services. Mario, the owner of Trattoria da Mario, says that the burden has not been too heavy to bear thanks to revenues from these activities. “We actually made a good amount of money through our delivery services”. The reopening of the restaurant itself has been slow. “There’s only been two tables taken during lunch time, and the curfew being so early, no one has dinner here”. This has led Trattoria da Mario to only reopen only one of their two locations. However, they still offer delivery services as always: “That’s where we get most of the money these days”.
Some bars have also been offering delivery services, despite not having any experience in that regard. A bar on Avenida del Acueducto offered drinks and food delivery until 1am, giving its clients updates and contact services through their Instagram page. This small stream of revenue has been keeping some bars afloat during these trying times.
Others have been completely shut down. A woman working in a café located at the Segovia bus station shares her experience. “I started painting in these weeks. I think I became an expert in a few days”, she joked. With the curfew still in place, things are not much easier despite the reopening: “No one has dinner here. We close at 9 these days”.
She also laments the economic situation all of this has created. “Before March, there were six of us. Now there’s three”. This has been the case for other businesses, such as Mario’s: “We used to be 25 workers before all this. We’re 5 now.”
Many other bars won’t be reopening at all. El Norte de Castilla, the regional newspaper reports that only 40% of Segovian bars and restaurants will reopen after the lifting of restrictions.
Image Source: Segoguiados
