THE owner of a city centre snooker hall found a unique way to protest his business’ place in the Covid reopening ‘cue’... by getting his hair cut, nails done and enjoying a massage.
Lake Sharma also test drove a sports car, stopped by a local gym and tried out some fake tan as part of his bid to show the “daftness” of restrictions that will see pool clubs closed until next month.
The Q Club boss believes venues could welcome back players safely long before then and insists sport halls are just as safe as businesses already given the green light to open.
READ MORE: Glasgow's Q Club boss joins socially distanced protest outside Scottish Parliament
He said: “It just doesn’t make any sense to us.
“It just takes the p*** out of it. I can do these things if I want to.
“I can get my eyelashes done if I want to. You are up close to people.
“People are shocked to find out we are closed. They think I am kidding them on.”
Snooker club owners from across the country have held a number of protests outside the Scottish Parliament in recent weeks and Mr Sharma says the impact on them has been “devastating”.
He said: “People just want to pacify us and for us to go away and forget about it.
“There is an incredible loss of income to us. We are struggling.
“Never in my adult life, having worked since I was 15, have I worried about the petrol light coming on in my car.
“I’ve had club owners from across Scotland getting in touch to thank me for fighting their fight. A lot of people are feeling it.
“It’s just a farce."
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is among those to offer support to Mr Sharma.
He said: “Like many hospitality businesses across Scotland, snooker halls have been badly hit by the pandemic.
“And as pubs and restaurants re-open, we can understand why Mr Sharma feels like his business is being left behind. We need snooker halls to be supported to re-open as soon as safely and feasibly possible. I will continue to raise concerns with the Scottish Government.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Under the levels plan published last month snooker halls must remain closed until Level 1 is reached.
“By June 7 the whole of Scotland is due to move to Level 1 if the coronavirus infection rate permits.
“We all want to get back to normal as soon as it is safely possible, but we must move very carefully to ensure continued suppression of the virus.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here