LOCALS and tourists alike will have more opportunities to enjoy the Easter long weekend in the Blue Lake city with new laws in place this year.
Tourists are expected to flock to Mount Gambier and surrounds in one of the busiest weekends of the year with pubs and hotels across the city set to receive an increase in customers.
Beer will flow freely at pubs across Mount Gambier tomorrow after legislation changed to allow South Australian hotels to trade on Good Friday for the first time in 100 years.
The new laws were introduced in November last year and most licensed premises in the city are taking full advantage by operating at their regular trading hours tomorrow.
Mount Gambier Hotel manager Jarrad Mutton said he expected people to be rapt they could enjoy lunch, dinner and a beer at the hotel.
“It’s great that we are no longer restricted and I’m sure plenty of people will think ‘the pubs are open’ and then get down to a licensed premises somewhere in the city to have a meal or a drink,” Mr Mutton said.
“The freedom to trade definitely takes a lot of the stress away for us and I’m sure the public enjoy it too.”
Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce president Lynette Martin said the change to legislation provided more options for people coming into the city for Easter.
“With the town being so busy with tourists, it does cater for those visitors and gives them more places to go for a meal, which is important,” Ms Martin said.
For the Mount Gambier Hotel, Mr Mutton said it would be business as usual, with trading all day in the hotel and the adjacent bottle shop.
“I think it is going to be a great thing for the bottle shop in particular, because in the past people have forgotten to purchase their alcohol and then all the bottle shops have been closed,” Mr Mutton said.
Good Friday has seen a number of other significant changes in recent years, including the introduction of an Australian Football League game last year, which hotels will take full advantage of tomorrow.
“We have just put in a new big screen here at the hotel and we will definitely make sure we show the football with sound tomorrow afternoon,” Mr Mutton said.
Mr Mutton said it was still unclear how late they would trade into the night, taking into account the fact employees would receive penalty rates.
“Trading on Good Friday is obviously something that has not happened before, so it is all a bit of an unknown,” he said.
“Since our employees will be paid penalty rates, we will just gauge our trade throughout the evening and then close whenever is appropriate.
“I’d like to think we will have a good day and night with both locals and tourists that are here for Easter.”
