A FINAL decision on whether the Euro 2020 fan zone planned for Glasgow will go ahead is expected to be announced early this week.
Scotland’s National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch yesterday said the First Minister is likely to announce tomorrow or Tuesday whether the facility for football fans will be made available.
Glasgow on Saturday finally dropped into level 2 of Covid measures, allowing residents to meet in homes, hug loved ones and drink alcohol indoors for the first time in months.
For Billy Gold (above) it meant opening his Hielan Jessie pub in the Gallowgate for the first time in nine months. He described the atmosphere as like Fair Friday,
the traditional day when factories and businesses closed for the city’s July holiday.
“There is a buzz, a lift, a happiness – people are laughing and smiling,” he said. “In my pub I am watching reunion after reunion happening. Pals that don’t necessarily keep in touch, but they would maybe meet in the pub two or three times a week.
“For us it is quite emotional as well, we are a community pub and our base is probably 75% regulars and locals. So there is people myself and my staff haven’t seen for nine months.
“To get the business back up and running is absolutely fantastic.”
Gold said the pub had not opened for nine months, as it was a traditional tenement type with little outdoor space and it was “not viable” to not be able to serve alcohol indoors. He also said the plans for the fan zone at Glasgow Green were causing concern.
“Customers can’t understand why we are all sitting spaced out in my pub, with 33 people in a relatively large room, when you gave 3000 fans at a time drinking beer and cheering on their team at Glasgow Green,” he said.
“They are taking 6000 potential hospitality customers a day away from businesses in the city centre, as it is going to be 6000 fans a day at this fan zone. So that doesn’t sit too well.
“But the most important thing is we just hope it doesn’t have any adverse results on infection rates.
READ MORE: Jason Leitch says 'perhaps' Glasgow Green event will go ahead
“That would be the biggest kick in the teeth of all - because of something like that we end up getting pushed back to level 3.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Off the Ball programme, Leitch said the final decision on the fan zone would be taken by the First Minister and her Cabinet.
He said he believed it was as safe as such an area could be, but acknowledged some people were angry it was being planned when there are still restrictions such as on the numbers able to attend funerals.
He added: “The fanzone, if it goes ahead, is outdoors, very well managed in partnership and planning for weeks and weeks and weeks with the local authority, the stewarding company, the police who have approved it, who think it is a safe way of managing what would otherwise be unmanageable.”
The whole of mainland Scotland was supposed to move to level 1 tomorrow, but 14 council areas will remain in level 2 for another few weeks.
Fifteen council areas are now in level 1, while Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles have moved to level 0.
READ MORE: Scotland sees one new Covid death and 860 fresh cases in 24 hours
Yesterday’s figures recorded 860 new cases of covid-19 across Scotland in the past 24 hours, a significant drop from 992 on Friday. There was one death reported.
Meanwhile an expert has warned pushing ahead with a full reopening later this month in England would be “foolish” and a “major risk”, amid reports a two-week delay to the planned easing of restrictions is being considered.
Professor Stephen Reicher said: “I think by the Government’s own criteria it’s quite clear that it would be foolish to proceed on the data that we’ve got at the moment.”
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