A PUB landlord has said restrictions over Christmas and New Year made “no difference” to Covid cases.

Michael Bergson, who owns and operates Buck’s Bar in the city centre said that the three household restrictions didn’t work. He said: “These restrictions just haven’t worked at all. They haven’t worked one bit.

“I have friends that run nightclubs. I used to work in the industry and they are on their knees. They are having to listen to Nicola Sturgeon say: you can go to Parkhead and Ibrox with 50-60,000 people crammed into toilets, crammed onto trains but you still can’t go to nightclubs."

Glasgow Times:

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Mr Bergson also said that the table service mandate was “ineffective”. He added: “My friend runs an Irish bar in the Merchant City. He had to reduce his capacity from about 415 to 80 because of the regulations. On Monday night there were 60,000 people in Celtic Park. He would have been mobbed. But the reality was, he had 80 people in and we had 60,000 people in Parkhead.

“For the Scottish Cup game on Saturday, he will be reduced to 80 people.

“This is decimating businesses. How does this follow the science when he’s not allowed 400 people in but you’re allowed 60,000 people in a stadium?”

The Scottish Government brought in guidelines on hospitality over the Christmas and New Year period which meant only three households could mix, table service resumed and bars and restaurants put social distancing back in place.

Restrictions are due to be lifted on Monday, January 24, but Mr Bergson has asked: why not now?

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Because of the vaccination programme, and the efforts we have all made to curb transmission, our position is not as difficult as feared back in December. That is why we were able to lift the limits on outdoor events yesterday and why we are lifting other restrictions from next Monday.

“We are still in a very challenging position and the NHS remains under significant pressure, with the number of Covid cases still exceptionally high.

“Although we can be cautiously optimistic about our current position, we all still need to play our part in helping to slow the spread of the virus.

“The key ways in which all of us can do that include getting vaccinated as soon as you can, limiting and prioritising contacts that matter the most to you and taking lateral flow tests when you are planning to see other people.

“All of this makes a difference and is the reason why we have been able to start lifting restrictions and can look ahead to a much better spring and summer.”