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England pubs reopening: ‘We want people to be able to live again — and the cash will come in handy’
Social distancing will be in full force as inns across England reopen — but restaurants may suffer
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By Katie Grant
July 3, 2020 1:34 pm
When The Bell Inn pub reopens in the Berkshire village of Aldworth on Saturday, its regulars will find a few changes. There will be no chatting at the bar, or indeed, anywhere within the Grade II-listed building. Customers will be asked to take their drinks outside to allow people to observe social distancing rules.
Plastic cups are being used in lieu of glassware, new toilets have been installed outside (people will be asked to follow a one-in, one-out system) and payments will be made by card machine, which might prove tricky given the village’s unreliable internet reception
We will just have to bear with it,” says Heather Macaulay, the proprietor.
We have had to go with the flow and keep people safe. We want people to be happy and be able to live again – and of course the cash will come in handy.”
The Bell Inn has a long history and Ms Macaulay is determined it will not be brought to an end by Covid-19. It has, after all, been in the same family for more than 200 years – seeing off a 19th-century typhus epidemic in the village, Spanish flu and two world wars. The building itself dates back to 1340, just before the Black Death ravaged much of Europe.
When she last spoke to i in March, hours after the Prime Minister ordered pubs, bars and restaurants to close to help slow down the spread of the virus, Ms Macaulay vowed that her business would survive and the community would have “a real celebration when we open the doors again”.
It is largely down to her willingness to try new things that, 15 weeks later, she is able to reopen on the first day that pubs, restaurants and hotels in England are permitted to do so, providing that they comply with Covid-19 safety measures.
The UK Government recently changed its two-metre social distancing rule to “one metre-plus” in England but The Bell Inn is sticking to two metres: “We are just interested in customers and staff being safe. Whatever it takes, that’s what we’ll do,” says the pub’s 84-year-old proprietor.
Mrs Macaulay is among the millions of Britons for whom Covid-19 poses a high risk, so she will be talking to customers “from afar” while her son and daughter-in-law perform front-of-house duties.
“I will be in the distance, giving them a wave,” she laughs.
Drunken yobs’
Ashley McCarthy, the landlord of Ye Old Sun Inn in the village of Colton, North Yorkshire, said it was “heartbreaking” when Boris Johnson ordered pubs to close on 20 March, but, like Mrs Macaulay, he was determined to keep his business going.
“This will be a hard time but we are made of strong stuff in pubs. We will get through this,” he told i at the time.
At the start of the crisis, Mr McCarthy opened a village shop inside his pub, selling essential goods such as milk and kitchen paper, though since lockdown restrictions have been loosened, trade has slowed.
While he is relieved to be able to start pulling pints again, he is being more circumspect than Mrs Macaulay, and is waiting until 16 July to reopen his pub. Initially, it will only be open from Thursday evenings to Sunday afternoons, with a limited food offering
We will be watching everyone else from this Saturday, we just want to see how it goes,” Mr McCarthy says.
He hopes that by delaying opening, he will avoid attracting the hordes of “drunken yobs” that many in the industry fear will descend on England’s pubs this weekend.
“A lot people are expecting New Year’s Eve en masse,” Mr McCarthy says.
He hopes that by delaying opening, he will avoid attracting the hordes of “drunken yobs” that many in the industry fear will descend on England’s pubs this weekend.
“A lot people are expecting New Year’s Eve en masse,” Mr McCarthy says.
More outdoor seating
In the meantime, he will focus on getting the premises “spic and span” once more.
“We have been getting the pub ready this week, painting, sorting out tables, seeing what we can physically fit in, and doing up outside,” he explains.
When it comes to observing the 2m or 1m-plus rules, the 16th-century building is “a bit in the middle”, says Mr McCarthy, adding: “A lot of the rooms are small. In some rooms we will do two metres and some we’ll do one.”
Providing the weather is sunny, an expanded outdoor seating area will help to make up for revenue lost by having fewer tables indoors.
Closing is easier than reopening’
While pubs with lots of outdoor space can expect trade to be brisk, weather permitting, restaurants – which typically have fewer seats outside – might struggle. Andrei Lussmann, who runs six branches of Lussmanns Fish and Grill in Oxford and Hertfordshire, will reopen two this weekend before the rest make a staggered return.
“Closing a restaurant is much easier than reopening one. It’s almost like a brand new business opening,” he says.
At his St Albans restaurant, Mr Lussmann has had to halve the number of diners he would typically accommodate to allow for social distancing. Although it has a healthy number of bookings – 60 for lunch today, 85 for dinner – Mr Lussmann fears that he will end up making a loss.
Staff affected
He is also concerned at the toll that the pandemic, lockdown and being furloughed might have taken on his 120 workers, and how they will react to being propelled back into such a fast-moving, intense environment after so much time away.
He says: “It’s very sexy to say everyone can open on 4 July, but let’s take a step back and make sure the staff will cope.”
Mr Lussmann will urge staff and customers to follow safety measures, but he is not certain that diners will appreciate the measures he has introduced.
Eating out is all about feeling you are away from the chaos of the world,” he says.
“Customers eating in restaurants are going to be totally inundated with safety measures. Many of these are designed to look good but might scare the bejeesus out of customers and make them feel like they are eating in an operating theatre.”