The excitement of running her own pub was enough to lure Tara Kennedy to the Riverina from Western Australia.
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But six months later she's in a position she couldn't have dreamed of, and not in a good way.
After managing pubs for the past three years, Ms Kennedy took over the license of Finley's Tuppal Hotel in February and made a great start to her first venture on her own.
But as the COVID situation worsened in Sydney, the walls began closing in.
Ms Kennedy said the introduction of masks indoors and capacity limits in NSW as of 5pm on June 26 was when the town became "scared" and business slowly dried up from there.
Regional NSW is in its third week of lockdown and the situation is dire as the hotel's turnover has dwindled from in excess of $10,000 per week to less than $500. The lockdown remains in place until at least midnight on September 10.
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"We had a football bus come in that night (on June 26) and I had to hand them out masks and tell them to be seated, but they had one beer and took off, which is not like them," Ms Kennedy said.
"Basically from 5pm that day, it slowly started killing us.
"My normal turnover is between $10,000 and $18,000 per week, but this week just gone it was $400.
"I did takeaway cocktails, but I had to make labels and spent two hours trying to find everything I needed to put on that label to basically ensure people can't take it on the street and drink it.
"Making a closed cocktail that is packaged and branded with our name on it, I spent more hours doing that and trying to advertise it for someone to buy four.
"I'm from the wheatbelt in Western Australia and my parents have had pubs for 13 years.
"They've still got a lease for one in the wheatbelt and my dad does farming.
"I've got people back home if I need to cry and borrow a loan, but that's not how business works. It's not how it's supposed to turn out.
"I'm only 24 and I can run a pub, but I can't run a pub if it's shut."
To make matters worse, Ms Kennedy's family has been operating as close to normal as possible back home in Western Australia.
I've got people back home if I need to cry and borrow a loan, but that's not how business works. It's not how it's supposed to turn out.
- Tara Kennedy
"Whenever I talk to my family at home they're telling me the pub is full," she said.
"My partner is from the eastern side of the country and I moved over to him.
"I spoke to mum and dad and said I was keen to run a pub and I went and did it.
"I looked at a few, but this one stood out a little bit more. It was a bit cheaper and needed a bit of TLC, but it's got potential because it's big.
"We went to do renovations like extending the patio out the back, but everything started happening in Sydney.
"My dad was going to fly over and help out with it, but I told him to hold off a couple of weeks because I was going to need money if we went into lockdown.
"I'm semi okay because my parents have been able to help me out, but I feel for all of those people who have nothing.
"It doesn't help with people's mental health. The message is to go and start a business and help the economy, but what for?
"I look back and think, should I have just stayed working for my parents?
"I've managed pubs for three or four years for other people on and off, but this is the first time I've actually had to find money and pay for things myself. When it's your own it's a little bit different.
"I love a challenge, but this is too much of a challenge. I'll figure it out."
Ms Kennedy holds huge fears for her regular customers who use the hotel as an opportunity to unwind and get any concerns off their chest.
"It worries me that all these people who come into the pub to have a rant and rave, because I'm their local therapist who they don't have to pay for, can't do that at the moment," she said.
"It's part of my job and they know it's not going to go outside these four walls.
"When the first restrictions came in I talked about running an R U OK? event where we all come in for a barbecue and talk to a mate.
"Everything happened so quickly and we got shut down, so we didn't even get to do that."
Ms Kennedy revealed she wouldn't want to go on "any longer than two more weeks" in the current situation, but she's up for the fight to keep her business alive.
She's hopes there's some lockdown relief for regional NSW come September 10.
"I don't mind being in lockdown, as long as everything goes back to normal. I just want to go back two years," Ms Kennedy said.
"Even though we're so far away, you keep seeing the cases in Sydney and think, 'there's another two weeks'.
"It's in Dubbo and Walgett and you think that's not going to help us in regional NSW.
"The thing that would make it easier on us is for the government to actually be able to help us for the last few weeks we've been in lockdown.
"I have power bills, gas bills. I have beer that might go off and there's nothing to say my kegs will get replaced. That's $8000 sitting on the floor.
"The unknown is hard to deal with. We're all crying for help more than anything.
"I even thought about getting on a plane to Western Australia to help my mum and dad so I could earn a wage to pay the bills over here because she can't get staff.
"I know I'm not the only one. We're all doing it together and we're basically surviving."
Two doors up the street is Nicky's Cafe and owner of six years Nicky Burke has noticed a significant difference in passing traffic and the impacts on her business.
"I haven't been doing too badly. I still have all my loyal local customers come in every day," she said.
"The traffic, It dropped off almost overnight.
"I've had the cafe for about six years and this would be the quietest I've seen the town.
"I've been closing a bit earlier during the week, so Monday to Thursday I shut at 3pm instead of 5pm.
"I still do Friday and Saturday nights and all the pizza deliveries, but I've had to cut back on staff a bit for now."
Ms Burke has plans to sell the business, but urged it wasn't due to COVID.
"I'm going to be a full-time nanna. I've got my first grandchild coming in a month," she added.
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