By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A popular nightspot yesterday said it plans to hire around 40 people over the next month to facilitate its end-October/early November re-opening in time for the Christmas season.

Kevin Knowles, Club Waterloo’s principal, told Tribune Business that “people are craving to be out and socialising again” as he readies “to hire a whole new team” for the East Bay Street location following the nightly curfew’s push-back to a midnight start.

Describing Club Waterloo’s return as “a fight” and “a long road”, Mr Knowles and his business were among the night-time operators frustrated by the former administration’s early curfews and associated COVID-19 measures.

After adjusting its traditional nightclub/bar business model to cater to outdoor dining, with seating for 100 guests, following the economy’s emergence from the first COVID-19 lockdown, Club Waterloo was then unable to obtain an answer from the Prime Minister’s Office on its proposal to cater to private parties featuring resort guests  - most of whom were likely to be fully vaccinated.

With this business niche the difference between opening and closing, Mr Knowles told this newspaper in June 2021 that Club Waterloo had no choice but to close yet again and furlough its then-50 to 60 staff in order to stem “unsustainable” operating losses. He hit out at the uneven “playing field” that allowed resorts to keep open similar amenities while Bahamian-owned firms had to close.

Now, with the newly-elected Davis administration narrowing the New Providence curfew to between 12 midnight and 5am as its first act upon taking office, Mr Knowles told this newspaper: “We’re planning to re-open. We have to hire a whole new team and management. I have a manager coming in on the 15th [of September], and we’ll staff it out from there.”

Acknowledging that many former Club Waterloo staff will have moved on to jobs elsewhere amid the uncertainty over the venue’s fate, Mr Knowles said he did not blame them and added: “We’re really pushing for the end of October/first week in November so that we will be running for the season when it comes in.

“We want to have the wheels greased by that time, and the staff trained up to par. To make the wheels turn, we have to start with at least 40. We’re excited about it. I think the market is there. I think Christmas will be good; the season will be good to us. It’s getting the right people in place.

“It’s a lot of work. People think you decide to open up, get some drinks and food, and sell it. I think re-opening now is going to be quite difficult, but we’ll get it done.” Mr Knowles previously pointed out to Tribune Business that the entire entertainment/night-time industries sector was impacted by the Minnis administration’s stance, especially their inability to compete against hotel restaurants and bars.

“It’s been a long road,” he added yesterday. “I didn’t understand the last administration’s position. They asked us for a proposal, we sent them a proposal, and were never on an equal footing and didn’t hear back.

“We would have installed the same protocols as the hotels; just give us the same leeway and luxuries. The fact Bahamians were going into those places.....” Mr Knowles affirmed that Club Waterloo would implement whatever COVID-19 health and safety measures are required by the Government for its re-opening.

“The bills don’t go away,” he added. “I couldn’t even quantify that [the losses] to be honest. I know we have huge operating losses from operating under the curfew and everything like that. It’s been a fight. We were lucky. We were lucky to have the means to get through it.

“We’re hopeful we will bring a good programme back, bring a good platform back, and people will support us. I think people are craving to be out and socialising again.” Mr Knowles estimated reopening costs at “close to $100,000; it won’t be far from that”.

He added: “We just had the sound people come in. That was $5,000 to $6,000 for them to come in and go through everything in two days.” When Club Waterloo closed in June, Mr Knowles had urged the government to “even the playing field” by allowing local businesses to follow Bahamian resorts in testing patrons for COVID-19 at the door prior to their entrance.

Also urging the government to lift the curfew and “extend operating hours”, Mr Knowles said at the time: “Our concerns are that it doesn’t seem to be a level playing field. It’s difficult to compete and stay relevant when the rules are applied selectively to different businesses and venues. It’s already a difficult climate for operations such as ours, and to be compounded with an un-level playing field, it became an insurmountable task.”

The Club Waterloo principal echoed others who had called on the Government to uniformly apply the COVID-19 restrictions and health measures to all businesses, as well as provide a ‘road map’ towards exiting these rules. There were also repeated assertions that some of the Minnis administration’s decisions are not justified or backed by the medical science, leading to inconsistent decision-making.

Mr Knowles said it was “very concerning” that hotel bars and restaurants were allowed to remain open beyond the then-10pm curfew, with Bahamians allowed to patronise them and enjoy indoor dining with a negative COVID-19 antigen test, yet locally-owned rivals are being subjected to more restrictive measures and tighter rules that prevent them from competing.