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    An Englishman's home is his local

    A thread for predicting and reporting what the pubs will be/were like on opening tomorrow. One of our village pubs might not be too different to before restrictions, to be honest, more of a gastropub you only went in to sit and eat or drink at tables anyway. The other is more "locals at the bar watching sports" but they're mostly middle aged and not rowdy, I reckon it will be good-natured on people following any new rules. There are some pubs down in Bamber Bridge and Chorley, however, which I reckon by the evening will be like a Wild West saloon on the night the town struck gold. I'm not in a hurry to be going to any for a while, until I hear which way it's gone, although before lockdown the Signora and I did used to enjoy going to both the village ones and it'll be nice to get back into that.

    #2
    To my shame I don't tend to dig down into the detail of the Government's virus advice and guidelines, so I'm not sure what is or isn't going to happen tomorrow. I'm not a big pub-goer, especially not locally, but a couple of friends are planning a visit so I'm trying to figure out the lay of the land. The impression I get is that pubs will be serving customers food and drink at outside tables which have to be booked in advance. That certainly seems to be what my most agreeable local is doing which, incidentally, has a large beer garden. No idea if there are other reopening models available though.

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      #3
      Some of my former locals have been doing that already - serving drinks in the garden or to take away / drink on Hackney Downs. I’ve not been tempted. TBH unless there’s a particular attraction, like music, or lovely surroundings, I’d generally rather drink at home with my friends (or alone) anyway. But then I’m a bird and don’t need a freshly drawn pint. Winky thing. I do know women like beer.

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        #4
        In our leafy suburb, the three nearest pubs are all quite food oriented and two have substantial gardens so seem as well set as any to adjust to new requirements, which isn't to say that it is financially workable for them for any length of time. I don't tend to go out locally for a drink anyway, unless it's with a meal. The 'Regulars' (self-identified and self-capitalised) at the closest pub are a shocking bunch of old soaks, like escaped characters from a late period Kingsley Amis novel.

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          #5
          Even if I was still a drinker/pubgoer I'd be very wary.

          Locally the closest (and roughest) pub successfully transitioned to a higher class bistro type place for genteel middle aged and pensioners to eat in and drink coffee, so that should be fine. The remaining traditional/rough boozer in the neighbourhood has been having daily piss ups for locals in their garden (patch of grass) for weeks, can't work out if it's just locals buying cans or if the landlord is involved, suspect the latter.

          Inbetween there are two bars which regard themselves as exclusive and elite, catering for the weekend millionaires, fur coat and no drawers types. Lots of men in their 30s-50s trying to impress much younger women. Despite their pretentions, there is frequent trouble at both as drink brings out the true nature of the clientelle once they've quaffed enough of the 30 quid cocktails. So those will be carnage.

          Whatever "rules" are in place, pub landlords are a) desperate for cash as it's very tough to turn a profit, and b) are all dodgy fuckers to begin with (no offence EIM).
          So once the sun goes down, and drink has been taken, it'll be a free for all. Very glad to not be involved.

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            #6
            According to twitter, good old Boris "I'm quintessentially, demonstrably, unequivocally, one of the lads, raaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!" Johnson has said that pubs can open from 6am tomorrow.

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              #7
              They can open from 6am as well, as per latest update from Govt....

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                #8
                Nobody really knows what's going to happen tomorrow do they? It might be like Mad Friday with all the supposed pent up demand, it might be considerably quieter. Every pub in the land coming from a standing start with different requirements and operational rules everywhere, it'll all be a bit chaotic for the first few days while everyone gets a handle on the reboot. I'm sure there will be a lot of wrongness as well, the media falling over themselves to get footage of a busy pub, people sharing shots on Facebook of a pub garden with people watching the World Cup or on New Years Eve and a good deal of general sneering. Pretty soon numbers will fall off as the novelty fades and people realise what a joyless experience it's going to be for the next couple of months at least.

                The government are putting a lot of faith in the weather being good this summer, I've seen stuff about how people may not be allowed to move from outdoors to in if it rains for example. There will have to be some further easing of restrictions on this front once the weather turns in a couple of months.

                I got sent a hefty list last night of what pubs in Rotherham are doing tomorrow. Some are waiting a few days to have a more low key opening with a midweek crowd. Some have all sorts of restrictions (you must book even if you only want a drink, you must download our app), some doing what they have to to follow guidelines (don't move the tables, maximum group size six) and others doing nothing beyond ensuring the staff are safe (come along as you wish but you must be seated if not socially distanced queuing for the bar). A couple have made the sensible request to ask punters not to go moaning on social media that it's all different and rubbish or "shouting what is shit after four G&T's is not helpful"

                I won't be going tomorrow at least, partly as I expect there will be a lot of dickheads about, partly as the rules make it difficult to meet up with lots of people (in practice I suspect the "no more than two households" rule will soon be mostly ignored) and partly as I haven't had a drink at all since the night the pubs shut some 105 days ago so a couple of pints and I'll be flat on my back.

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                  #9
                  BTW, the 6am thing might well be to prevent pubs opening at midnight tonight as some were planning - Brewdog were doing this with three of their outlets and I saw a story about a bar in Huddersfield (?) also intending to open that time.

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                    #10
                    I think Sat and Sun will be very busy in my regular haunts. On average I go to the Mountie 5 times a week, the Phoenix 5 times a week and the Pig 3 times a week. Going to the pub is what I do. All of them are "locals" pubs, i.e. you don't arrange to meet anyone there, you just turn up and can guarantee you'll know at least half the people in there. These are not people I stay in touch with on social media, they're just mates, and understandably I'd like to see how they are, make sure no one I know has died etc (I'm sure if a really good mate had died someone would have found a way to let me know, but if it's say "Les from the other end of the bar" then I won't know).

                    I'm certainly not going back this weekend - there will be way too many dickheads, and I could pretty much name names as to who they're likely to be, ranging from the youngsters going "absolute ham" as they call it, just because they're allowed back in the pub, to one particular friend who I just know will kick up a fuss because he won't be able to stand in his usual place at the bar.

                    I'll probably nip up to the first two pubs at some point next week as they both have front beer gardens / smoking areas so I can have a quick catch up without going in - the third I'd actually have to go inside, but it does have the most responsible owners, so I'd expect all social distancing to be very well done. I don't expect to enjoy it - if I have to sit at a table and not circulate then it's not a pub in my mind - but I'll do it at some point just to say I've been.

                    Actually, the above paragraph is probably just wishful thinking. I've been fine without pubs for the last three months, but that's because the option wasn't available. Given how shit my willpower is, I'll probably have been to all three, plus my reserves, before the weekend's out.

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                      #11
                      There are two locals on the road near me, both of which serve food. One is a chain gastropub serving decent food with a pleasant atmosphere. The other serves food from a 1980s time warp (e.g. microwaved lasagne and chips). I went in there once with my children and a friend and her children as the gastropub was fully booked. It wasn't terrible, but the dirty furnishings and dead-eyed stares from the (exclusively white male) regulars meant that I have no plans to ever return.

                      The gastropub has some outdoor tables on decking, but it's not a massive space. I'd like to go, but probably not for a few weeks until it's potentially calmed down a bit.
                      ​​​​​

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                        #12
                        Both of my kids work in the same bar/restaurant and it is re-opening fully tomorrow (after getting back into it with home deliveries the last two weekends). Son is a chef so is back full time, daughter is on the bar and casual, with no shifts in the coming week. They've both been in for a prep meeting this morning and from what daughter was saying it sounds like a fairly joyless atmosphere. They are using indoor seating (they do have a smaller number of outdoor seats too) and apparently after the initial food order you can order drinks by scanning a QR code and texting the bar staff (or something, I wasn't quite following).

                        As reported on another thread they had a visit from the police yesterday which included a warning not to take bookings from Dumfries and Galloway following the local spike this week. I've seen it reported that several Carlisle pubs are delaying opening because of this, though some had already said they weren't opening on the first weekend anyway.

                        I think a lot of people (myself included) would quite like a few pints tomorrow but will wait to see how it pans out before venturing out anywhere. I'm not going to spend half the night queueing and/or pre-book slots to sit with my mate and have a drink and chat, we've managed that (responsibly) a couple of times already without all that fuss. I don't think it's going to be like an England match Saturday out there tomorrow but it will be busy enough and as already suggested once the sun and a few pints are down, the guidelines will be forgotten in many places. The obvious parts of the press are already hyping it as "Super Saturday".
                        Last edited by Walt Flanagans Dog; 03-07-2020, 13:11.

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                          #13
                          My local is on the corner five doors from my house. I could go there in my slippers, but I've no urgent desire to go back any time soon. I've spent enough in the past in various London hostelries to consider that I've done my bit for well-being of the industry over the years.

                          The local will be open from 12-9pm, leave your email address (fine), no food (fine), no inside seating being used and one way system to get drinks from the bar (I guess as they are not opening the inside tables they can do this) and the small back beer garden closed. This means that people will be drinking outside on the road in front of the pub and on six beer tables. Not a great experience if it's pissing it down. It seems like a lot of bother when I've got used to drinking a couple of small beers with friends on House Party and Zoom on a weekend and have treated this time as a bit of a detox,

                          Having said that, there are other nearby pubs where the experience is likely to be a lot better. I'm sure I'll get used to the new normal very quickly.

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                            #14
                            The concern is large queues in the rain, people inside getting tanked up and refusing to leave, landlords unable to enforce new rules, cops too busy. Some places will be ok, but there will be enough that won't to cause issues.

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                              #15
                              As I wrote on one of the other threads, the pubs that sell food opened here last Monday. A few pubs and customers started acting the arsehole, but the government made a few veiled threats that we can just as easily shut you down again. This is the first weekend, so we'll see what happens. Either way, I'm not going out again for a couple of weeks, until things settle down.

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                                #16
                                As for my local, well it pains me to say but it's a Spoon. There are other pubs, most of the kind where I would likely be as welcome as a fart in a lift (and without a gaggle of psychos vouching for me like in the good old days of drinking before/after the football). I tried one on my road, pretty quiet, nothing interesting to drink and punters were harmless enough although the barmaid looked on drugs (as in prescription drugs) last time I went there. There is another one which I have visited on occasion, a time capsule...each time I have been, the same couple was sat at the same table. It must have been hard for them. Live music and biker friendly but never struck me as a rough place (I suspect the presence of large, hard looking bikers with something like "Satan's slave" on the back tends to keep everybody in good spirits and they themselves are more often than not quite jovial chaps).

                                The Spoon is actually the best pub I can go to in a 2 miles radius. It's very much a family type Spoon and the atmosphere on a saturday at around 10-11pm is strangely sedate, I never had any sense of menace in there. Only in the beer garden you can get a "get plastered, happy to kick you in the head" vibe on occasion when particular groups of people are drinking there.

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                                  #17
                                  Avoid the pub! Join us on Zoom instead. Social distancing and a much more esoteric vibe.

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                                    #18
                                    At least in the pub no one judges my curtains...

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                                      #19
                                      Pubs will be fine. Most people won't be able to get in one, and the ones that people can get in, they'll soon realise that under current guidelines they're less fun than staying in and drinking. The weather is shite too, which takes beer gardens out of the equation.

                                      No pubs will be opening at 6am, as Johnson hasn't, as far as I'm aware, cancelled licencing law. Everyone has licensed hours, and very few have 6am opening on that.

                                      Most pubs are opening because they can't afford to stay closed. Very few pubs want to open. The only winners here are Tim Martin and property developers. It's a bleak time for the industry and I don't think we'll ever recover.

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                                        #20
                                        There are four pubs within 3-4 minutes’ walk from where I live, all very different from each other. Three have been serving takeaways for several weeks and all four are opening tomorrow. Three are on, or just off, main roads with the fourth in the corner of a square where there were two games of petanque going on when I passed earlier. Customers of those doing takeaways have been drinking outside but, in the main, responsibly. My pub of choice is further away and, to be honest, I was half expecting it not to be opening straight away. It’s not on a busy road and much of its custom is for football and the after-office crowd. It tends to be much quieter during the summer anyway and likely to be more so with so many people still working from home. So I was surprised when I walked past the other day to see they were preparing it for opening. The gaffer said he’d save me a table tomorrow afternoon so I’ll be going. In any other year on a July weekend afternoon it would be quiet with only custom from the nearby six-a-side football place likely to pull numbers in. But that isn’t open so I hope it will be quiet tomorrow, although if I feel even slightly uncomfortable I’ll be heading straight home.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by pebblethefish View Post
                                          At least in the pub no one judges my curtains...
                                          If, as we are told, you live in a dwelling that is entirely constructed from curtains, isn't the technical term for that a tent?

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                                            #22
                                            I love my local about 2 minutes down the road. Beer, cider, gin, pork scratchings, crisps and nothing much else. Certainly no food. A handful of friendly folk at the bar and treats for the dog to hand when we pop in on the way back from a walk in the woods. Three or four different beers on tap with a list of the wall of what's coming from the cellar next so whenever I go in there's always something new to try. It's like a proper city centre boozer but plonked into the outskirts. With fifteen quid in my pocket and a couple of hours to spare nothing beats it.

                                            However I'm not sure I'll venture down tomorrow and I'm not sure they'll even open. It's owned by a old couple though their son and his partner run it. He's got what I presume is early onset of Parkinsons so actually voluntarily shut down about five days before everywhere else. I'll be in soon enough though, it's in my top three Plymouth pubs and I'd hate for it to disappear forever.

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                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Greenlander View Post
                                              I love my local about 2 minutes down the road. Beer, cider, gin, pork scratchings, crisps and nothing much else. Certainly no food. A handful of friendly folk at the bar and treats for the dog to hand when we pop in on the way back from a walk in the woods. Three or four different beers on tap with a list of the wall of what's coming from the cellar next so whenever I go in there's always something new to try. It's like a proper city centre boozer but plonked into the outskirts. With fifteen quid in my pocket and a couple of hours to spare nothing beats it.

                                              However I'm not sure I'll venture down tomorrow and I'm not sure they'll even open. It's owned by a old couple though their son and his partner run it. He's got what I presume is early onset of Parkinsons so actually voluntarily shut down about five days before everywhere else. I'll be in soon enough though, it's in my top three Plymouth pubs and I'd hate for it to disappear forever.
                                              It sounds fucking amazing, and it needs protecting at all costs. However it's exactly pubs like these, and mine, that will struggle.

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                                                #24
                                                Are you opening EIM?

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                                                  #25
                                                  Have they actually published the regulations yet?

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