The owner of a north-east hotel has confirmed the venue will open later today, hours after announcing it was to close amid confusion over its inclusion on a list of pubs linked to the coronavirus outbreak.
Robert Lindsay, owner of The Marine Hotel in Stonehaven, says he was notified at 12.40pm that it was in a position to reopen around 4pm.
It comes after the hotel was named on the list NHS Grampian published of 28 venues where cases linked to Aberdeen cluster have visited.
Mr Lindsay announced on social media this morning that, although the management has not been contacted by track and trace officials, no guidance or clarification had been given and called it “ludicrous”.
He said: “We were not informed that the Marine, obviously outwith the Aberdeen lockdown area, would be on the NHS Grampian list of premises which had Covid-19 contacts, published yesterday afternoon.
“We had not been informed there had been such a contact, full stop.
“We have not been advised as to what we should do now. No official has said whether we have done enough to mitigate any potential contact.
“No one has said if we should stay open or close. That is a ridiculous and worrying situation to be in.
“With this lack of clarity and communication from health and council officials, I feel the only responsible thing for me to do is close the hotel, despite being outside the Scottish Government imposed lockdown zone, until I am given categorical assurances we can open safely for business as normal.
“I do this with a heavy heart, but my first duty must be the safety of my staff, customers and the public.”
The list of 28 venues that had been visited by people linked to the Hawthorn Bar cluster was published following First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s briefing yesterday.
Aberdeen City Council has said not all bars on the list were contacted ahead of the publication due to the short time between the decision to make it public and its release.
A spokesman said: “Test and Protect is primarily the responsibility of the Scottish Government and its agencies. Environmental Health officials will always seek to assist in whatever way possible.
“Unfortunately, due to the rapidly developing situation, it was not possible to contact the businesses before the list was published.
“Attempts to contact all relevant businesses were made yesterday evening. Attempts are continuing to contact today the establishments who could not be contacted yesterday.”
Aberdeenshire Council has also been contacted for comment.
