Before I go any further...Nick and I are delighted to announce we have been given the green light to open the bar again from this Friday, 14th August!
After being closed for 21 weeks, we are both excited and looking forward to welcoming members back into YOUR club but we need to highlight there will be some big changes to the way we operate...for the time being at least. We are not accepting private bookings at this time. These rules and restrictions, which I will list below, are in place to adhere to Scottish Government legislation and ultimately are in place to keep you, our members and Nick and myself, as staff, as safe as possible!
Opening hours
We will be opening on both a Friday and Saturday with 2 x 3 hour slots. The time slots for both days are 4pm to 7pm and then 7.30pm to 10.30pm. You will need to book in for these slots which I will explain in full further down.
Capacity
In order to adhere to physical distancing our capacity with be significantly reduced. I will point out now, that we will be operating a 1 meter physical distancing format however the general rule will be 2 meters if you are moving about within the building.
How will it work?
You will enter via the side gate and up the left hand grandstand steps to gain entry to the bar area. For disabled access, the lift will be available. You will be met at the door, have your temperature checked (above 37.3C will not be allowed entry) and then shown to your table. The table and chairs will be set out specifically for you so we insist that you do not move any of the furniture. We will be operating table service only during your visit so please do not try to go to the bar, you will not be served! To avoid unnecessary traffic or bottleneck areas we have developed a building flow to keep everyone moving in the one direction. To go to the toilets you leave via the main doors as normal. We are operating a 1 in 1 out policy for the toilets so make sure you leave enough time for your pee stops! Once finished with the toilets you need to go via the back corridor into the middle room before getting back to the bar area and your table. For those of you that like a smoke you need to follow the building flow to get outside via the fire door in the middle room...you’ll thank us later for all of those extra steps you're going to get in! You will then get back in via our entrance door. When your leaving the building you go down the normal stairs and leave how you normally would. Physical distancing should be followed during your visit at all times. We will have plenty of hand sanitiser points situated about the club which we welcome you to use. Enhanced cleaning schedules are also in place. To adhere to licensing laws, no drink will be allowed to be taken outside. For the time being the back room will be our of bounds.
Be sensible
Please don’t visit the club if you, or anyone in your household are displaying symptoms of COVID-19. As a reminder these currently are:
If you are showing any of these symptoms, please follow government advice.
If you test positive or develop symptoms of COVID-19 after visiting the club please let us know so we can report it for NHS Scotland Test and Protect processes and arrange a complete sanitisation of the building.
Bookings
We will be working on pre bookings only. To book you need to email us on BullsBar@hamiltonrugbyclub.co.uk with your name, telephone number, date and time slot required. If you are booking for more than one person we need to know how many will be in your party and from how many households. A reminder that the current legislation states you can meet a maximum of 8 people indoors from a maximum of 3 households which we will be strict on. This will mean that if you normally visit the club in larger groups you will need to be spread over several tables...this is out with our control. Nick and myself will be monitoring this mailbox and your booking will only be confirmed once you have had contact back from either Nick or myself. For the process to be fair we will start taking bookings on the Tuesday before the weekend each week. We respectfully request that if you book a table then you attend where possible...if you don’t turn up you could potentially be stopping another member from attending the club. Due to the limited capacity, we will be working on a first come first served basis for bookings so be quick to avoid disappointment.
NHS Scotland Test and Protect
We will collect details to support NHS Scotland Test and Protect when you are booking your table. The person booking will count as the lead person for the table and we will securely retain the information for 21 days before destroying. A full privacy notice will be sent at time of booking. We reserve the right to request contact details from everyone within your group.
New additions
We have been looking at our current product lines and will be making changes to what we stock. We are delighted that we now have Thistly Cross Cider on draft installed in the club. Many of you will have sampled this, I’m sure, from one of our Beer Festivals in the past. We will continue to monitor our product ranges and will make changes as we go.
We both appreciate there are a lot of changes to take in. In all honesty, it is a lot of changes to how both Nick and myself normally work too! We ask for you to have patience with us and show understanding with the new processes that we have to follow. For the time being, it is going to be our new ‘normal’ and at the end of the day we are following government legislation to keep everyone as safe as we possibly can.
We need to be up front with you and I am sure you will all understand...for the long term survival and sustainability of our rugby club, and selfishly to ensure that we still have jobs going forward, we need you to use YOUR club. If it isn’t used and we begin losing money, I am pretty sure that the committee will be forced into making difficult decisions pretty quickly!
Anyway...this is a good news post! Bookings are now open so please get in touch and we look forward to seeing you all back at Laigh Bent soon
#BullsFamily