LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Everyone can stay out a little later as Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has added another hour onto the curfew for restaurants and bars. The reason? Vaccinations are increasing, and COVID cases are not. Restaurant and bar owners said at it’s a step forward but they would love to see all restrictions gone.
“To see all the positive things that are happening and people getting back out, it’s amazing,” said Kristi Stewart, the Events Manager for 21st in Germantown.
Adding to that, Khalil Batshon, owner of Khalil’s on Dixie, said of people being willing to go back out in public,
“I had cold chills this past Saturday, and with St. Patrick’s Day with the amount of people we had coming in.”
Inching toward getting back to business, Beshear said yes to one more hour of food and drink for customers by moving the curfew to midnight and to 1 a.m. for restaurants and bars to close up. Owners contend it’s coming at the right time.
“Even though our Louisville and Kentucky (men’s basketball teams) aren’t in the tournament, we’ve still got people that want to come in and watch the basketball games.”
When Beshear upped capacity by 10% going from 50% to 60% a few weeks ago, restaurant and bar owners told us they really needed hours to be extended.
“We’re very gracious and we’re very happy about that,” said Stewart, who added, “We still need a little bit more, not trying to be that person, just push, push, push, but in order for us to be able to recuperate some of the financial aspects of what we’re doing, we need to get back to as close to normal as possible.”
What that means for 21st in Germantown Tavern said Stewart is more capacity and at least a 2 a.m. curfew as most bars in Louisville are licensed until 4 a.m. She says re-opening Karaoke, darts and pool would also be key.
“Karaoke was a huge part of our business,” Stewart said, “and we were doing it extremely safe, so issues like that need to be addressed as well as the capacity and the hours.”
For Khalil’s on Dixie, there’s another big issue.
“We would love to see the bar seating come back because that’s where it’s going to make a big difference and allow people some actual change,” Batshon said. “People are getting vaccinated, we are pushing it, we’re promoting it to make sure people are doing what they need to do, so we can get back to some normal life.”
Owners say they’ll meet with staff in the coming days to figure out the best ways to get everyone out by 1 a.m.
Copyright 2021 WAVE 3 News. All rights reserved.
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March 20, 2021 at 05:09AM
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Bar and restaurants owners thankful for additional hour, but want more - WKYT
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