A Fife cafe owner has reassured staff that their jobs are secure as the country prepares for a three-week level four lockdown.
All non-essential retail and hospitality businesses will shut their doors on Boxing Day after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced last minute measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 amid the emergence of a new strain of the virus.
Nova Gamble, who runs Sands A Place By The Sea with her husband Ervin at Aberdour’s Silver Sands beach, said: “It could’ve been handled better.
“To be telling us all along that the sacrifices we have been making are so we can all have Christmas to then just throw this on us – there doesn’t seem to be a plan now, just knee jerk reactions.”
Nova said staff had been “panicking” about losing their jobs at Christmas.
“I’ll need to call my accountant on Monday to see about furlough but we’ll need to pay that until we can claim it back,” she said.
“I’ve naturally reassured them that we’ll support them all as we couldn’t do it without them.”
Nova echoed the opinion recently expressed by Fife Chamber of Commerce that the hospitality sector is being disproportionately penalised during the pandemic.
She added: “There’s no evidence that hospitality is contributing to the spread of this virus.
“We have gone above and beyond making our business a safe place for both staff and customers and are proud to say that we haven’t had one case linked to us – not one customer or staff member.”
