by Lexey Burns, Editor-in-Chief

Open food services on Laurentian’s campus have been limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic in September. But the shutdowns don’t seem to end. 

With the second lockdown being extended to January 23rd, one of the two remaining places to get food on campus is closing its doors. 

In an email to students, the SGA said the Pub Downunder has closed “due to unforeseen circumstances” and “will be closed for the foreseeable future.” 

Ben MacKenzie, SGA’s Vice-President of Student Life said “With the provincial restrictions in place we can not sell alcohol which made up a majority of our sales.”

He said that alcohol sales helped “cover the cost [of running Pub] so without being able to offer that and only being able to offer food we can not run the pub sustainably without losing money.” 

“We can’t justify running on a deficit,” he said. 

This contradicts Robert Haché’s President’s update, released to students on January 8th, saying that the “SGA Pub will be open for takeout only.” 

Nick D’Orazio is the Pub Downunder’s manager and is in his seventh year with the SGA. D’Orazio said that running Pub during a pandemic has been difficult because “something like this has never happened.” 

“I understand that [students] don’t have anywhere to eat,” D’Orazio said. 

D’Orazio said that closing Pub “affects [the students] and it affects me too… This is my job, this is how I pay my bills.” 

“It’s just not a matter of opening the doors and say ‘come on in.’” 

D’Orazio said that he supports the idea of keeping Pub open to students, but his voice was not a factor in the ultimate decision. 

“The rules that were yesterday, are not the rules today. You know how many times we’ve reinvented ourselves in here? We were taking flex dollars,” he said. 

D’Orazio said that the Pub was doing everything in their power to stay open to have the option for students in residence.

He also said that business would vary week to week in the first semester, some being busier than others. 

Chartwells had ordered food to serve for the new year but had to cancel the order last minute once the announcement of Pub’s shutdown was released, he added. 

“It’s not that I think that everybody is in the know… I’m not gonna say there’s a communication individual problem with the SGA but there’s definitely a lack of communication all the way around,” he said. 

“You guys are the first ones that should have been enlightened because it affects you.”

Students react to pub closing

Matt Marshall, a second year Nursing student, said that “it was nice to go sit down there every once in a while” during the first semester. 

Spencer Postma, a fourth year Zoology student said that “pub was really important to me last semester since it gave me a reason to leave my apartment each day.”

“The people that worked at pub were the best and having a bit of social interaction out of people on [residence] and zoom provided a small amount of normalcy,” he said. 

He said that pub “keeps students on campus more often means that we have a lower risk of catching Covid in town while out getting food and then bringing it back to [residence] and spreading it.”

“That door just opened all the time,” D’Orazio said about Pub and how it had run before the pandemic. 

It is undetermined whether or not the Pub Downunder will reopen after the end of the lockdown on January 23rd. 

Students can currently buy snacks from the C-Store and order food from Quesada, both located on student street in residence.