MENINDEE residents were thirsty for the outback town’s drinking hole to reopen its doors this month.
But after 70 days going without, under government restrictions, beer lovers at Maidens Hotel received the devastating news they did not want to hear — there was no liquid gold on tap.
COVID-19 restrictions were eased on June 1, allowing pubs, cafes, clubs and restaurants to have 50 customers inside at once if they followed the four-square-metre rule.
Maidens Hotel publican Arthur Bunney told Sunraysia Daily everyone was happy to see the pub reopen — except those who preferred to drink from the keg.
“We don’t have a drop of keg beer at the moment, but we should have some XXXX Gold in by (Thursday) afternoon,” he said.
“Breweries had about as much notice as we did about the restrictions being lifted, so they really didn’t have anything brewed.
“Most people are all right, but there are a few that get cranky about it because they want their draught.
“One of the old blokes said, ‘I might as well go home and drink stubbies, if I have to drink stubbies here.’
“And I said, ‘Oh well mate, that’s your choice — I can’t just go grab a keg out of the sky, as much as I would love to, so this is something we all have to adapt to’.”
At Menindee there had been new hope in the air in February after water reached the Menindee Lakes for the first time since 2017.
The morale of the drought-stricken town lifted and business was booming, but celebrations were short-lived when licensed venues in NSW were forced to close on March 23.
Mr Bunney feared the small cash flow in bleak times could leave permanent damage.
He said while making money again was a good thing, there was also the important social aspect too, particularly for the town’s elderly population.
“The regulars were stoked.
“We had people lining up at the door waiting for us to open.
“A lot of them come in for the company and to have a yarn — they will have a few beers but it is mainly just talking and meeting up with their old mates sort of thing.
“A lot of the elderly enjoy it as a day out, or to come out at lunchtime.”
As well as the locals, the 170-year-old pub attracts tourists, especially since flows returned to the river.
Mr Bunney said with businesses returning to normal trading hours visitors were “flooding back” and injecting money into the town’s economy.
“I think the people that are coming on the tourist route wouldn’t go anywhere if they were sick or anything like that,” he said.
“I think a bit of commonsense comes into play there. A lot of it is elderly people in their caravans — they’ve come flooding through again, great to see anyone coming in and doing that for the town.
“They will get some fuel, have a feed, buy something at the local store, inject a bit of money into the Menindee economy, which is what we want.
“We are concentrating mainly on the water now. People are phoning up and asking if the fish are biting, are there any yabbies.
“I try and point them around to a few areas where they can try and catch a fish.
“And that’s what the publican does — they sort of give people a few pointers.”
Mr Bunney said the pub had returned to normal trading hours and the government’s JobKeeper scheme had enabled them to keep staff employed.
He said it had been a difficult three months, however JobKeeper helped the business get back to where it was “before it all started”.
“We are confident in the next couple of months or so it will come back to normality, I suppose you can call it, it just depends on this virus and if it sticks its head out again.
“I think we just have to be aware of hand sanitising, social distancing, just for a little bit longer, and in 12 months time we would hope we could forget this thing ever even happened.
“Hopefully they will get a cure. We are confident we will get there.
“It will just take time and that’s what we need for our business to build back to what it was.”
