Bar stop – again.
Midnight night to Wednesday, the new measures take effect. This means, among other things, a full stop to drinking for the nightlife industry across the country. Avisa Oslo spoke with Erman Atabay, general manager of the Rock In pub in Greenland in Oslo, in March. Then the nightclub was well into the 197 days of bar stops that the capital went through at the time, and fought a battle to survive.
When Nettavisen contacts Atabay on Tuesday morning, a few hours before they have to close again, the details of the crisis package are still a bit unclear for the pub owner.
– We have not seen any platform we can apply for, and we have not received any clarification regarding what we should do with the employees.
The rosters are set up throughout the year.
– As long as we have not been notified if we receive wage compensation, we must keep them in work, and then they must be paid out for the year, at the same time as the income stops after tonight.
He talks about some demanding months, which can now turn out to be almost a waste:
– We initiated quite extreme savings measures in connection with the previous bar stop. This has meant that we have to set aside some money that we can live on, in case there should be a new round, but already now we are eating from that pot, Atabay says to Nettavisen.
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For the past two weeks, the pub has had to stop pouring at midnight.
– At that time, we had to take 200,000 kroner of what we managed to save up through the summer. We are starting to approach zero again very, very quickly. Therefore, it is very disappointing that the government says that the companies that make a profit through 2021 must repay support for November and December if they apply. It is a slap in the face that we stood on even harder this year to be able to make up for the loss that we experienced the 197 days of the pouring we had to keep closed – a choice we had no control over ourselves, says Atabay.
Among the austerity measures, he mentions, among other things, that he, as general manager of what is normally a large and busy pub in the middle of Oslo, has now also become a waiter, host and cleaning assistant – and works extra to fill the roles they do not have staffing to.
In addition, the pub has cut down everywhere they can, on everything from payment terminals to electricity agreements. The new electricity agreement helped in the beginning, but the difference was evened out and so it was after electricity prices skyrocketed this autumn.
– It feels like we play Monopoly, but land in the wrong field all the time.
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In March, Atabay had sold off both motorcycles, furniture from the pub and its own, private LEGO collection from the youth in order for the pub to survive. Since then he has participated in the Lego Masters on TV 2, but the cash prize dream came true halfway through the season. Instead, he has had to sell away even more lately, including even more LEGO.
He appreciates that the government is relatively quick with the outlines of compensation, which he feels the previous government was not, but Atabay would like what came out on Tuesday morning to be a little more concrete.
He also reacts to the fact that the measures take effect at such short notice that the pubs become burning inside with many goods that they are not allowed to sell.
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– They say that we should get compensation for the lost goods, but it is not 100 percent of what we use, since taxes and fees come up there again. In addition, they compensate for the purchase value, not the sales value.
To Avisa Oslo in March, he called for the Solberg government to take to the streets to investigate the state of affairs. He does not feel that there have been major changes since the change of government.
– I do not feel that they have contact with small, individual actors like us. I think we are now, once again, going to feel that they do not care about us, and by us being set aside.
Rock In is one of the few metal pubs in Oslo, and likes to attract the same guests week after week:
– I have noticed that the guests are good at caring about their places, says Atabay, and adds that this is something he thinks all rock pubs in Oslo have experienced since reopening in May.
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