Local publicans say there was no big rush as they opened their doors for their first day back in business for four months.
Pubs that serve food, Cafes and restaurants reopened yesterday as part of Phase 3 of the lifting of restrictions.
Brendan Treacy from Matt The Millers in Kilkenny says there was a slow but steady flow of curious customers and locals coming in for a bite of food and a drink:
“Most of the people came in in twos, threes or fours and took a little bit of time over their lunch or their drink or whatever it was” he said.
“Practically everyone was familiar to us and known to us and we chatted with them and they were delighted just to be out and about and meeting other people”.
Meanwhile Gerry Rafter from Rafter Dempsey’s in Kilkenny City says it was great to welcome people back but things are still quite slow and it’ll be quite a while before things are back to normal:
He said “No records broken, a good strong trickle of familiar faces, coming back into us and delighted to be able to get back in and enjoy a breakfast or a lunch or a drink with their meal”
“People are quite excited, but theres still a long way to go” he added.
