It was a decision taken based on what was “the right thing to do”. Those were the words of Bridie Gormely as the Black Cat Cove, Belleek, closed its doors indefinitely in anticipation of “a swarm” of revellers crossing the Border for St. Patrick’s Day earlier this week.

One of the most iconic pubs in Fermanagh took the decision for “the safety of its staff and customers” Bridie explained before adding: “And we can’t afford to close financially, let me be clear about that.”

Meanwhile right across Fermanagh other businesses are being forced to close including Blake’s of the Hollow and Pat’s Bar in Enniskillen, also taking the decision to shut. A statement signed by the Cadden family and released on the pub’s Facebook page said: “Unfortunately we have been left by both our local and central government with no option but to make an extremely difficult decision to close Pat’s Bar with immediate effect until further notice.

“We are doing this to protect both the health and the long term jobs of our staff for when this unprecedented challenge is over. We are taking steps to support all staff financially and emotionally in the absence of any government support.”

For Bridie Gormley the anticipation of a significant increase in footfall from the Republic of Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day was one motivation in the decision to close the Black Cat Cove: “We took the decision to close because we had heard that pubs across the Border in Ballyshannon might close.

“We just felt we had to close, there was going to be a swarm coming across the Border into pubs, and we just felt the safety of our customers was paramount. We just felt we would not be able to keep the appropriate distance and what not,” she said. For Bridie, one frustrating factor in the ongoing situation has been the different approaches of governments either side of the Border. She was critical of the administration at Stormont.

“It is particularly difficult for Border towns; two very different sets of rules just a few miles apart. I think there has been a strong position taken by the government in the south but that has been negated by the somewhat relaxed approach taken by Stormont assembly. People in this areas criss-cross across the Border on a daily basis.”

And it isn’t just the pub which has been hit with Bridie explaining that their guest house has also been badly hit: “Things are hard enough in the pub business at the moment. We had opened up a 19 bed guest house, Dullrush Fishing Lodge, and we today have take a cancellation of 300 fishermen. This clientele has taken us five years to build up. We have been to shows in France and Germany and all over to build that up.”

Before the government announced measures to help businesses, Bridie called for more to be done to help businesses moving forward.

She was also pessimistic about how much can be achieved given the sheer volume of businesses affected. “Well there has to be a relaxation on anything that they can control, like rates and so on. There are so many businesses in the same boat so it is so hard to know.”

It was a difficult decision to close the doors of the Black Cat Cove but it is one that Bridie is comfortable was the only one she could take while she also believes that the community will rally around and support each other in this trying time.

“We cannot afford to take the rap but we decided that people’s health was more important.

“There is help out there form different community groups and everyone will look after each other.”

While some pubs closed, others did not with photographs shared online claiming to show packed bars.