Pubs and alcohol - WTF?

[peasoup8]

I’m in a tier two area, which means only pubs serving “substantial” food can open. Am I allowed to go to one of these pubs and have a glass of wine but no food?

Also, why can’t pubs who don’t serve food (such as my local) open? Is it because the government don’t trust people not to get too drunk and say hell to social distancing? It does feel like nanny state mentality at its finest!

You can only go to one of the pubs that is open if you are buying a substantial meal alongside a drink. So no, you can’t just go for a glass of wine.
Pubs that don’t serve substantial food can’t open because they aren’t able to meet the guidelines and only serve alcohol alongside a meal.

you need to buy food.

People are less likely to go from bar to bar if they have to buy a meal in each one, and they are less likely to forget to social distance due to drinking.

Pubs that don’t serve substantial food can’t open because they aren’t able to meet the guidelines and only serve alcohol alongside a meal.

Yes I got that I’m asking why they have to serve food along with drinks. But @kimlo has answered my question, thanks.

Personally I think the rules around drinking are ridiculous. I’m perfectly capable of going to the pub for a drink without getting blotto. Plus people having meals can just order shit loads to drink anyway if they want to.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

As @kimlo said, it's to discourage pub crawling and multiple mixing.

You may be perfectly sensible, but others aren't.

It's something else that affects the less well off even worse though isn't it. It's one thing to pop into the pub for a pint, the cost of having a meal as well is too much for many.

@peasoup8 I don't understand why it doesn't make sense? I live in a city and pubs were crowded when they were open, drunk people then crowding in to the streets. People forget social distancing. It is great that you are perfectly capable not to but sadly not everyone can and these rules are to cover a wide amount of people.

It will be table service as well, to discourage guests from moving around.

It’s to stop pub crawls, you may be sensible as are the vast majority of people, but unfortunately the few that are not responsible drinkers have spoilt it for others. In our village we have 3 pubs and a social club. 2 of these don’t serve food, so it’s going to be very difficult for them to open.

Alcohol loosens inhibitions, more likely to forget about social distancing, wearing a mask, more likely to shout etc. Food absorbs some of the booze, you won’t bar crawl, you’ll tend to take it a bit easier over a meal. So no, you can’t go for a glass of wine or a pint.
You may well be sensible but a lot of people are knobs.

Thing is, this stuff has to be based on a population level. So individually you, and many others, would be fine just going for a drink or two, but once you apply that at population level it becomes a problem. Same with a lot of the rules that ‘don’t make sense’ or where the individual risk is perceived as low. (The government of course ignores this when convenient eg Christmas)