From Iceland — Gummi Ben Unlikely To Open Again

Gummi Ben Unlikely To Open Again

Published May 14, 2020

Sam O'Donnell
Photo by
Art Bicnick

It is most likely that Gummi Ben sports bar will not open again. The relative newcomer that replaced Húrra in October closed its doors in March due to the virus situation.

According to the owner, Ómar Ingimarsson, what happens in the coming days will determine the future of the bar. “There are two things that we have been relying on,” he told MBL, “Sports and groups of people, and neither of those things have been allowed.” He added that there is no flexibility for property owners due to the regulations that have been put in place as a result of the cronavirus.

Ómar said that he would post updates on Facebook in regards to how things are developing. He also said that if the virus hadn’t closed the bar down, he is confident that they would be doing well. “We had a lot of marketing work that was starting to take off. If this had not happened, we would have achieved our goals.”

Although the government intends to allow bars to open on May 25th, the fact that athletics and sports are still shut down, and the fact that the two-metre rule will not change, does not look good for the atmosphere of the new sports bar.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

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