London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2025

Local restaurants still experiencing big decline in dine-in traffic

Local restaurants still experiencing big decline in dine-in traffic

By Kamal Haynes, BVI News Staff Several restaurants in the British Virgin Islands are seeing a significant decline in dine-in traffic due to the impact COVID-19 has had on the territory.

BVI News interviewed several restaurant managers who all said day- and night-time dining has been almost non-existent since the government approved the reopening of local restaurants in the territory and extended the night-time curfew just under a month ago.

According to the managers, the decline in business is because of the halt in tourist arrivals.


Pusser’s Pub restaurant chain

Pusser’s Pub, Road Town manager Devon Hamilton said the business has been severely impacted, as it usually relies on the influx of tourists who know to frequent the establishment.

“Since the government has lifted the ban where they have allowed the restaurants to do seated dining, I have not seen any business from that time until now, we are practically running an empty dining room,” Hamilton said.

“Looking at it in the future, I don’t see a way out. Yes, we do get a bit here and there from the locals but that is mainly on a weekend … But other than that, during the week, it’s actually a ghost town in the restaurant - nothing going on, it has actually hurt us very bad,” he added.


Take-out business striving

While the Pussers’ seated-dining service is taking a hit, the take-out service that is also being offered is keeping the business afloat.

Hamilton said he associates the increase in take-out customers with a decrease in dine-in restaurant-goers.

“We have high traffic when it comes to take-out but … normally if we didn’t have a striving take-out business then I assume that they would be sitting in the restaurant,” the Pusser’s manager explained.

“The sit-down aspect of the restaurant is hurting, but the take-out part of it is doing pretty good and I commend the locals for their support and patronage to Pusser’s and I can’t ask for more,” he added.


Other two locations also impacted

Hamilton further said Pusser’s in Myett’s, Cane Garden Bay and at Soper’s Hole, West End were also feeling the effects from COVID-19. He said that the two locations have been taking multiple measures to increase local traffic, including the increase in advertising and discounted rates on several items on their menus.


Village Cay – Little foot traffic

Over at Village Cay, Hotel Manager Maureen Morrison-Jones said all three aspects of the business - the hotel, its marina, and its restaurant service - have been significantly impacted.

She said management had to return to the proverbial drawing board to help boost business during these difficult times.

“With the restaurant, we are getting small base foot-traffic; not a lot because since the opening we find that quite a lot of competition has been around so we have to be going outside of the box and be creative to see how the restaurant can take itself out of the water,” Morrison-Jones said.

“That mass traffic that we’re used to having; we don’t have it anymore. So, what we have to do is just be creative and try to improvise, especially on local dishes and do a lot of food advertisement, just letting persons know that business is open,” she further explained.


Bakery formed out of COVID

Jones also said a new aspect of the business - a bakery which was birthed as a result of COVID-19 - is becoming increasingly popular among locals.

She said this is the second time that a new venture has resulted from a disaster - the first being its conference room, which was created following Hurricane Irma in 2017. That, too, has been described as a success.

“We have created out of this COVID-19 what is called a little bakery which is going good. Locals are patronizing [because of] the way in which we make the local breads. So we find that one person tells another and we find that every other day we have to bake more,” Morrison-Jones stated.


A Taste of India – Minimal activity

In the meantime, Operations Manager of ‘A Taste of India’, Noumi Prasad said his business has been devastated by the pandemic.

“Since COVID-19 came, we lost everything. Before the curfew, we were getting very less amount of customers and since we reopened, we are not getting that much business that can cover our expenses.”

“Some days we have a couple tables dining and a few takeouts’ only. We didn’t see any big activities. I don’t think we are having not more than six or eight people in a night when we are busy still,” he further detailed.


Discounted prices for locals

To increase activity, Prasad said that measures are being taken to attract more locals to the restaurant.

“We are trying to post on Facebook, we are doing lunch specials also - which are at reasonable prices to serve all the locals. But, in the night, we are doing our authentic regular menu. But still we are planning to do something a little different so we can attract some more locals,” he added.


Capriccio di Mare

Manager of the Italian restaurant Capriccio di Mare, Edy Marziali, expressed similar sentiments, stating that the business activity has dwindled since COVID-19.

With this decline in business, Marziali said she believes proprietors should be more lenient with rent to allow businesses to be able to employ at least an additional employee.

“I think the government did a lot to just let us reopen. If the landlord put down the rent, it would help everybody to be open and to bring jobs for everybody else because if you remove $1,000 from the rent you can bring a job for somebody,” she said.

With no set date or announcements from the government regarding the reopening of local borders to international arrivals, the future of a number of these businesses will remain in doubt.

Until then, the only way forward will be to tailor their businesses to attract local traffic to guarantee revenue.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Brand-New $1 Million Yacht Sinks Just Fifteen Minutes After Maiden Launch in Turkey
Here’s What the FBI Seized in John Bolton Raid — and the Legal Risks He Faces
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
×