Strike a Light!

When I was privileged to be invited to take a late holiday a few weeks ago, I began to make plans.  Realising that my accommodation was, as I put it, 'halfway to anywhere' - i.e. a number of sites of interest would be more easily accessible from there than from home - my choice was wide.  A couple of definite bookings were made, many others noted as possible and, last but not least, I made a booking for Sunday lunch.

If I say that I knew the place well, it would be an exaggeration.  I had passed it many times, since it was just round the corner from the house where I would be staying, but I'd never been inside and had no idea either of their normal routines or, most definitely, how they were coping with the coronavirus restrictions.

If it comes to that, I have no idea how my 'local' is coping, either.  I was in the habit of going there most Sundays for lunch - so much so that I had become known as 'roast pork and half of cider' - but since mid-March I've not darkened their doors, firstly resorting of necessity to my own devices, and latterly preferring the security of home.

In no sense am I a 'social drinker'.  That half-pint of cider was my only alcoholic intake.  My regular £10 or so won't be the make-or-break factor in the pub's economy.  But I know that there are many, many others who, quite responsibly, enjoy the company and facilities provided by that and the whole industry of other licensed premises across Albion's fair land.

And, unlike me, thousands of people don't make a habit of a 10 o'clock bedtime.  (I find that reading in bed is about the only sure way of getting through any of the hundreds of books that I've acquired down the years.  OK - some of the larger tomes may take a number of weeks, and one or two have been given up on after a few boring chapters - but the alternative, i.e. sitting in the armchair, simply sends me to sleep.)

So, although its impact on my life is totally zero, I can readily see that the latest (supposed anti)-Covid-infection measure of making pubs and restaurants close at 10.0pm is ABSOLUTELY BONKERS!  Whatever the proportion is - and, of course, it will vary from one place to another - a large chunk of any pub's normal income will be achieved after that magic hour.

The financial pressure on the business of running a pub, already hit by the need for additional precautions and social distancing to provide a safe environment for a reduced number of customers, is therefore exacerbated by disallowing what is for many the busiest sector of their week.

And further - as that seasoned campaigner Daisy Cooper, MP, points out here - those leaving the pubs at this unsatisfactory closing time are exchanging the safety of a well-prepared drinking environment for crowded public transport and/or supermarket purchases for domestic consumption which invites further and greater risk of infection!

I can say no more ... beyond reporting that my holiday Sunday lunch at the Hayloft was perfectly prepared, perfectly safe and perfectly enjoyed!