More than two hundred municipalities have already promised their local catering industry that the terraces, once they are allowed to open, will be given more space. From Aa and Hunze via Krimpenerwaard to Zutphen, according to the list of 225 municipalities drawn up by Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) at the request of NU.nl. About a fifth of the catering entrepreneurs have been helped with a more spacious terrace.
“With a terrace twice as large, you can keep your distance until the same number of visitors come”, calculates KHN chairman Robèr Willemsen. The Netherlands has 352 municipalities. Almost two thirds of them have now said they allow more spacious terraces. “In many municipalities it is still talked about.”
Then the catering industry again on June 1 last year open the larger terraces were conceived. Where possible, more tables and chairs could be placed. At the time, a maximum of thirty people were allowed to eat or drink at the same time as the terraces were opened.
The catering industry hoped to be able to open the terraces this year at Easter, the first weekend of April. That hope already seems to have disappeared. “As it appears now, everything remains as it is,” says Willemsen. But that does not alter the fact that it is good news that so many municipalities have already agreed to allow more spacious terraces.
‘When the horizon gets closer, the dot is farther away’
“It is in any case positive that the municipalities, together with the industry and the entrepreneurs, are looking into what can be done.” In addition to more spacious terraces, the KHN chairman sees even more possibilities that “give the entrepreneur more room to do business”. “Like more space for events and playing music.”
According to Willemsen, municipalities usually do not charge extra precarious rights, terrace tax, for the larger terraces. “I also hear that entrepreneurs do not have to pay anything at all this year.” That gives the entrepreneurs a little more financial freedom. “Full compensation of the wage costs would really give more relief.”
KHN maintains the position that the terraces can be opened safely, but does not see it happening again before Easter. “As soon as something more is possible, the terraces should be there.” Willemsen does not mention a dot on the horizon. “As soon as you get closer to that horizon, that dot is farther away.”
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