NOT enough staff, and not enough footfall – those are the two main reasons for why few Fermanagh coffee shops or cafés operate outside ‘normal’ work day hours.
With the brighter evenings and bank holiday season now upon us, many local residents have been querying why most local cafés don’t stay open past the afternoon and why many stay shut on holiday days, when visitors are in the area.
The short answer is that it’s simply not feasible or profitable for them to operate an extended schedule.
Speaking to the ‘Herald about the issue, Noelle McAloon, manager of Enniskillen BID said she had often heard similar comments and liaised with local businesses about the possibility of extending their opening hours in the past.
What she learned was that the businesses themselves “thought it would be a lovely idea” but explained they were already stretched and they “can’t ask staff to come and work one minute longer.”
With small local businesses already working with small teams, meaning days off are often a luxury, Ms McAloon said in the current climate it was even more difficult as it’s “an employees’ market,” with businesses “all finding staffing really, really difficult.”
“People talk about the town centre and the opening hours, but the realities of opening a business is that you’re at the mercy of staff, and [business owners] have to have lives,” said Ms McAloon,
“A lot of people will just close their business and take a job elsewhere if they can’t have a work life balance.
“To have a good business community you need good business owners who have good health and hopefully enjoy what they’re doing.”
She added, “The other story is, we don’t have the footfall to enjoy a very orchestrated ‘let’s go’ night time economy and coffee shops.
“Yes, you might have a few people in, but I don’t know how much you would have to turnover to make a profit.”
Ms McAloon said BID had previously explored the idea of subsidising cafés to extend their open hours, however the figures just didn’t add up.
She added Enniskillen was not a city, and pointed to the fact that even in large urban areas such as Derry previous night-time coffee shop schemes had not proven very successful, mainly due to the people’s habits.
“Businesses are working as hard as they’ve ever worked, but there is less money in their pockets because there are more costs,” she said.