Members and guests of the Dubbo RSL Memorial Club are having their temperatures checked on arrival, one of the "strict conditions" in place as it emerges from the COVID-19 shutdown.
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The 59-year-old institution reopened in the city's centre this week after a forced and testing 10-week closure.
Club general manager Gus Lico reported the "difficult" time had involved 230 staff members being stood down, including himself.
Registered clubs received the green light to reopen, subject to limits on patron numbers and other restrictions from Monday, including the need to develop a COVID safety plan.
As the doors reopened "an excited" Mr Lico said it meant the opportunity to have "some normality, but [with] strict conditions".
Those measures start at entry where every member and guest will have their temperature taken.
The club must take the full names and contact details of all patrons and keep the information for 28 days "as required by law", Mr Lico said.
The furniture has been arranged to provide for social distancing, with a rule of one person per four square metres in place across the sector.
"We've set everything out and we don't want furniture moved around, it makes it easier for our staff to be able to calculate the areas and how many people are in those areas as required by law," Mr Lico said.
"...So once we see those seats are full, and there's people standing, they'll be asked to move on to other areas."
"COVID marshals" had been appointed to assist people with hygiene and the areas they could be in, the general manager said.
"There's plenty of areas they can go in, and we're fortunate for that," Mr Lico said.
"So long as they're seated to have their meal or have a beer or a soft drink, and get served and be seated, everything's hunky-dory."
He asked for members and guests to be "patient" and to adhere to the directions of marshalls and all staff.
Mr Lico used stark words to describe the shutdown's financial impact.
"Tragic, phenomenal, certainly unexpected, but understandable by the same token," he said.
"We are a community club at the end of the day, or business, and we have to do the right thing on behalf of the community and our members.
"But it impacted greatly for us, as you can expect, the big operation that it is, and 230 staff having been stood down, it's been pretty difficult."
Wage subsidy program JobKeeper had "absolutely" helped, Mr Lico said.
He expects recovery will be a long haul for everyone.
"From the business point of view, and I guess from the economy point of view as well, I think it's still going to be a slow and lengthy period of time before we all get back on our feet and trade back to some type of normality," he said.
"I think we're still talking a year or two down the track, I don't think it's going to be anything imminent... and I think at the end of the day people are still a little bit wary and rightly so."