The restaurant industry is severely affected by the corona eruption and many pubs go to their knees to save their operations. Many testify that they lost up to 90 percent of revenue.
In order to ease the economic crisis, Linköping Municipality allowed the restaurant owners to open the outdoor cafés early. And when they opened the gates last weekend, they were quickly filled by people who wanted to eat and drink.
"With this infection risk that the virus entails, it is unreasonable to have so many people on such a small area," says Muharrem Demirok (C), municipal council in Linköping.
Safety distance of two meters
These days, the municipality has been in contact with the pubs and demanded that they take action for the coming weekend. It is up to the restaurant staff to ensure that guests keep a safety distance of at least two meters. If not, Muharrem Demirok now threatens to close the servings and revoke the permits.
- Otherwise, you have a heavy responsibility that the outdoor restaurants and restaurants cannot be left in the long term in Linköping, he says.
Shared responsibility
For the weekend warmer weather awaits and many are expected to stay home at Easter. In normal cases, this would mean that many people apply for the city's outdoor restaurants, but Muharrem Demirok now urges the Linköping residents to take their responsibility together with the pubs and ensure that the restaurants do not become messy.
- Otherwise the situation will be unsustainable and we will end up in a situation where the condition of the restaurants will be questioned by more and more people.