To all those concerned; 

My name is Chris Driscoll and I am the Owner and Director of Sircuit and Mollie's 103-105 Smith Street Fitzroy. 

For many of us in hospitality during 2020, COVID-19 struck a huge blow, with huge numbers of operators losing 100% of their income for great periods of time.

For those of us lucky enough to re-open, every opportunity afforded to us is needed in order to be profitable and sustainable with restrictions in place. And a great help to many of us would be the alignment of footpath trading hours with the venue's actual licensed hours.

I'm putting forward that this be extended to all hospitality in the City Of Yarra for 6 months, as hopefully restrictions ease and patron numbers increase.

Not only would this be a great financial ease for many traders, it would show active support from Council of small business in their region. More staff could be employed, for longer. There would be increased interest from potential new businesses opening in the area. And with people being able to stay out later, there would be less opportunities for people to ignore the rules by drinking with friends at home.

I smack the nose of my puppies for begging at the table, that is not us. We just want an opportunity to put food on our family/staff tables. And provide what we do best for the people we serve, our patrons.

Yours sincerely, 

Chris Driscoll