Coronavirus: Wigan pub hits back at critics after offering cheaper drinks during Covid-19 outbreak

A Wigan pub has defended its decision to stay open and offer cut price drinks despite Government advice to avoid pubs, saying it has a responsibility to keep its employees in a job.
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Pubs, clubs and restaurants across the country are in a battle for survival as Covid-19 sees more and more people staying indoors, and The Wiend Bar in Wigan town centre is currently offering special deals on a number of drinks to drain its stock levels and keep the coffers full as customer numbers dwindle.

But a social media user said the promotion was "crazy, reckless and stupid" while also calling on PM Boris Johnson to officially order pubs to close, in a tweet which has been shared nearly 150 times.

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But the bar's owners have defended the decision, saying they had a responsibility to stay open as long as possible so that staff could still have a job.

The bar's owner Michael Pagett, also told Wigan Today that the bar had dropped its original "Coronavirus specials" promotion name.

They added that risk assessments and additional cleaning routines had been put in place to make sure customers were as safe as possible when visiting the bar.

A statement on the bar's Facebook page said: "We have a huge stock holding of draught lager and beer which faces the prospect of all going out of date if we are forced to close so we are selling it off cheap.

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"If the government would give us a definite answer on the support they are offering and how we get this support then maybe we wouldn’t have to worry so much about having to sell off our stock to save us huge losses on out of date stock.

The Wiend BarThe Wiend Bar
The Wiend Bar

"Judge us if you will but we have staff to keep in a job.

"All the while, we have carried out risk assessments, increased our cleaning routine and handed out mandatory advice to staff on the actions they must take both in terms of their personal hygiene, the hygiene of the venue and also in terms of their personal health.

"We strive to maintain a high level of customer service at all times and for people to feel safe in our venue, but at the same time we have a responsibility to our staff to make sure they still have a job and can still feed their kids.