‘Christmas Grinch’ Mark Drakeford barred from every pub in West Conwy following alcohol sales ban announcement

The First Minister of Wales has been banned from every pub in the West Conwy after licensees said new restrictions on hospitality would damage their businesses.

Mark Drakeford yesterday announced that restaurants, pubs and bars will be banned from selling alcohol and will have to close at 6pm when fresh measures are introduced in Wales on Friday to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Under the rules, only takeaways and deliveries will be allowed after that time.

The Welsh Government has announced a £340m support package for those impacted by the decision.

However, members of the West Conwy Pubwatch scheme have decided Mr Drakeford will not be able to enter their premises.

In a letter directly addressed to the First Minister, landlords said his actions amounted to “anti-social behaviour” and the ban would be put in place with immediate effect until May 2022.

They added they would seek the assistance police if he tries to enter any of their establishments.

A hotel on Anglesey has separately labelled Mr Drakeford as “the Christmas Grinch” after deciding to shut its doors until further notice.

The letter from landlords in West Conwy can be seen in full below:

All licensees have a legal duty under the Licensing Act of 2003 to ensure that disorderly, argumentative, violent behaviour and antisocial behaviour does not occur on or around their premises and to prevent the occurrence of criminal offences.

As a result of your behaviour on November 30th 2020 at the Senedd Cymru your actions class as antisocial behaviour for the damage caused to our members premises.

The licensees of the West Conwy Pubwatch have jointly decided that in order to discharge their duty as referred to above they are exercising their right not allow you entry to their premises, which are listed on our website at www.westconwypubwatch.co.uk

Should you attempt to ignore this notice and enter any of the licensed premises listed on our website the assistance of police will be sought, if necessary to eject you from the premises and an extra six months will be added to your ban.

This ban is effective from the date of this letter and will remain in force until the 30th of May 2022 or until your review which will be at our meeting in the first week of August 2021 if your review is successful we will be in touch to inform you (please read our FAQ section 6 on our website to see what we take in to account on your review).

If at any time your request to re consider this decision you can do so on our website under our appeals section.

Despite the mention of Mr Drakeford’s right to appeal, North.Wales notes the West Conwy Pubwatch website is currently inactive.

An error message flagged up when we clicked on it states: “Looks Like This Domain Isn’t Connected To A Website Yet!”

North.Wales has also been made aware of some individual establishments which have been less than complimentary about the First Minister on their Facebook pages, including the Valley Hotel on Anglesey.

Outlining the new measures yesterday, Mr Drakeford said they were needed to stop the spread of the virus and had been based on scientific advice.

He said: “Unfortunately, the virus is moving incredibly quickly across Wales and is eroding the gains we made during the firebreak period.

“We now need to take further steps together as a nation to protect people’s health and slow the spread of coronavirus.

“This virus – and this pandemic – continues to be full of unpleasant surprises. It thrives on our normal human behaviour and all those places and opportunities where we come together.

“It underlines why we need to take further, targeted action now. We will focus these changes on places where we meet and where coronavirus thrives, drawing on recent evidence from the UK SAGE group of experts about what interventions have had the biggest impact on the virus.”