Like many people, the easing of lockdown made it possible for John and me to take up some of our cancelled holidays from 2020 and this is a snapshot of how we found that other areas were faring as we moved around the country.
The first stop was Garstang, near Preston in Lancashire, at the time when drinking was restricted to outside only. Unlike many London pubs, most had outside drinking areas and many had chosen to extend them to take over at least part of their car parks and the presence of marquees and umbrellas was noticeable. This was just as well because there was torrential rain which made social distancing a challenge, with people huddling out of the downpours. The average price of a pint was under £3 (when was that last experienced in the capital?) but the absence of beers from small indepen- dent brewers was noticeable. Pubs which had previously stocked three or four cask beers now had half that number with ‘names’ such as Doom Bar and London Pride dominating, although Timothy Taylor’s Landlord provided some relief.
Going north, to Balloch on Loch Lomond, it was a similar picture. This has never a great area for cask beer but penetration by local breweries had all but disappeared. At the time we were there, Balloch and Glasgow were both in Level 3 and the nice weather brought in the Glaswegians for day trips so pity the poor pubs of Balloch when they were moved to Level 2 and Glasgow remained in Level 3. As you are not allowed to move across levels, there were no more day trippers for a while.
Edinburgh was in a better shape, with a reduced but reasonable selection of local beers to be found. Booking was essential for most pubs, even on weekend afternoons. Pubs has to close by 10.30pm and the two hour maximum time slot specified by the Scottish government for Level 2 areas was strictly enforced with the staff coming around tapping their watches to drinkers who looked as if they wanted to stay beyond the witching hour. The good humour of the staff was tried at times, with some rudeness exhibited by customers who wanted one more drink. You had to feel sorry for the pubs who one minute were turning away people without a booking then, only 30 minutes later, were empty as the two hour drinking slots came to an end.
In many pubs, social distancing created economic challenges, with capacity severely reduced. For example, the Stockbridge Tavern can normally hold 100 people but this was reduced to just 27. My favourite method of tackling social distancing was found in the Bow Bar, where giant teddy bears were used to stop people getting too close to one another. The bears didn’t mind!
Returning south, we paid a quick visit to York to use the flat that we booked for CAMRA’s cancelled 2020 AGM. The situation was a bit more positive. It was the first weekend when people could drink inside and, coupled with the York Races being on, it meant that the city was heaving with lots of students and other young people taking advance of freedom. After the weekend however, the pubs emptied. One landlord said that this was an ongoing picture, with slow business midweek; he feared that some people were still reluctant to come out. The selection of beers was better and the quality excellent; we didn’t have a bad pint all the time we were there. That said, once again, looking at the expected beers listed on CAMRA’s WhatPub, the range was definitely down.
There was a similar picture in Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, a town with a good selection of pubs, some of which are old coaching inns. The landlord of the Grade II-listed Black Horse Hotel gave a good summary of what the restrictions were doing to his business, “Table service is putting a strain on staffing levels and I am hardly breaking even at the moment. I am the only one working on the bar tonight so I can’t offer service to tables outside. But, once you are served inside, you are welcome to take the beer out yourselves.”
Just how close many pubs were to going under was reflected in a conversation with Dave Thomas, the lessee of the L’al Nook micropub. Dave used to run pubs for both Benskins (as was) and Greene King in the south and East Anglia and latterly ran two pubs in Croxley Green (the Coach & Horses and the Artichoke). However, his wife, Wendy, who came from Kirkby Stephen, was homesick and wanted to return home. Dave obliged and moved to the town in 2009, with wife and two daughters, Iona and Erin. Dave moved into fire safety and thought no more about pubs for ten years until a friend asked if he’d like to start a pub; they set up the L’al Nook in 2019. Originally, the pub opened just at weekends (Friday evenings, all day Saturday and Sunday) and both proprietors still held down daytime jobs. After a while, the friend found it too much and Dave bought him out. The pub has four cask beers, all stillaged under the bar using cask widgets to keep them cool. To start with, all the beers were local but now he has one guest from outside the region (at the time of visit it was Oakham Citra). The cask beers are complemented by two keg beers from independents and an impressive range of gins.
With no outside drinking area, the impact of COVID has been dramatic; he can only accommodate 16 people inside. Dave said, “The support from the Government has been lifesaving but even with it, if Wendy and I hadn’t been working full time, it’s unlikely we would have been able to continue.”
As long as there is not another lockdown, or any increase in restrictions, the future of L’al Nook, looks safe but, sadly, who knows what is going to happen to many other pubs and that’s true wherever you are in Britain.
Christine Cryne