COVID-19: Vernon’s Squires Four Pub to shut down starting Sunday

Squires Four Pub has announced it will temporarily close starting Sunday, March 22, due to public health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vernon pub and restaurant will seat guests for St. Patrick’s Day Tuesday but will only admit 50 patrons at a time, in keeping with the province-wide ban on gatherings of more than 50 people.

Owner Serry Massoud said the older age of many of his patrons made the decision to shut down an easy one.

“Most of my patrons are older people, and that would be quite risky with COVID-19. We decided we’ll shut down until we see what happens,” Massoud said.

Staff at the pub are currently looking into the possibility of doing food deliveries while the restaurant is closed.

“If it’s feasible then we will be opening the kitchen to do delivery to the customers,” he said.

The restaurant typically welcomes about 160 patrons for wing night Thursdays, according to Massoud, but all dinner services this week will be capped at 50 people.

Massoud said the liquor store connected to the pub will remain open.