Paul_The Highway Hotel
Paul has worked and owned several pubs over the years and in 2019 he brought The Highway Hotel in the main street of Gin Gin. The pub has a restaurant, a bar, a large function area, a pokie machine room as well as a beer garden. They serve meals and drinks 7 days a week and also hold regular functions and events such as their very popular Chinese Food Banquet Dinner.
When Covid19 happened, Paul’s business was deeply impacted. There was a reduce in trade as they were only able to do takeaway food and alcohol. This was done by setting up a table and a bell at the entrance to the building and taking orders from there. Paul stated: “Yeah it was a bit of a struggle, financially. Obviously, we didn’t have on-premise trade which is a little bit more money for us there… And also, a lot of staff we had to put off. We had to work a lot harder, which didn’t matter but it was just a bit sad for a lot of the people that use to work here, now I would say they are struggling looking for work”.
The takeaways did provide some income for the business, allowing it to get by during that time of lock downs and restrictions.
Like many business owners, Paul found the sudden changes and the uncertainty the most difficult part of this time, stating: “The hardest part, I think was sort of worrying about where we were going to be and what’s going to happen. I mean you know, you get the lock downs suddenly, umm you’ve got bills, you’ve got mortgages, you’ve got leases… You have that thinking in your head, going gee am I going to pay those mortgages. So that was the worrying factor”.
Once restrictions began to be eased, business did slowly start returning and Paul was able to bring back some of his staff. He is hopeful that things will continue to improve over the coming months but he is also aware that there are still some tough months ahead for everyone, particularly as government financial assistance becomes less and the work to make up the deficit begins, stating “We might be in for a good hard 6 months, maybe more”.
Paul was surprised by the impact on the business, and by how suddenly things changed. What he wanted everyone to know most about his experience of this time is that: “We are all one big family, and you know we’ve all got mortgages and debts. I’m going through the same thing as a lot of people are… there are all heartaches everywhere, but we’ve just got to battle on”.
As an example of people battling on together and showing kindness during this time, Paul told me about people in the community as well as the local schools making sure to buy lunch from his business and other local pubs as a way of supporting local businesses, he stated: “I think they supported it as much as they did. The schools come in, they would order lunch here, they would order lunch as The Gin Gin Hotel. Yeah, different people shared the love from The Gin Gin Hotel, The Highway Hotel and the Tirroan (Hotel), so that was good. It was really nice of them to share the love”.
He went on to thank everyone for their continued support, stating: “Thanks for everyone’s patronage, and let’s get back and get some money back in the bank, and start enjoying our food and meals and have fun. Have a good Christmas!”
A big thank you to Paul for taking time to share his story with me.
The Highway Hotel, 73 Mulgrave Street Gin Gin QLD 4671.
Ph: (07) 4157 2131
https://www.facebook.com/Highway-Hotel-Gin-Gin-QLD-210767976154235