The Drunken Duck has proudly looked over the fells of the Lake District for decades. In the past few months, however, it’s borne the brunt of the lockdown. “We had to pour 4,500 pints down the drain,” explains owner Steph Barton, who also has an on-site brewery. “As it stands with social distancing measures, the bar can’t survive. And that’s a very sad thought.”
Cherished by locals and tourists alike, a busy night in the Drunken Duck before coronavirus would have seen 70 people tightly packed into the bar with upwards of 300 pints sold. In the socially distanced era, make that 13 customers, all coolly keeping two metres from one another. “It would just destroy us as a bar,” Barton says. “We’re a community pub, but people wouldn’t be able to go over and talk to one another; they wouldn’t drink in the same way. It’s not worth opening for that.”
Barton’s tale is typical of an industry that is among the worst hit by coronavirus. The UK’s 47,000 pubs have been shuttered since March 20, alongside every business in the hospitality sector. According to trade body the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), four out of ten establishments won’t survive past September without additional government support.
Pubs have been pencilled in for a July 4 return, which is the earliest they can open according to the government’s coronavirus strategy. But it would be in the era of the two-metre rule: a distance which, according to the BBPA, would mean only a third of all pubs could reopen, and would slash internal capacity by 75 per cent. It’s those disastrous numbers which have led to the industry body lobbying for the distance to be halved. “A one-metre rule would mean more than three-quarters of pubs can reopen,” says BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin, who has helped draft the new industry guidance now submitted to the government. “But there are wonderful, nook-and-cranny Grade II-listed pubs which can’t have their layouts fundamentally changed – they won’t be able to reopen.”
For those that can, expect a whole host of changes to the typical pub experience – including restaurant-style bookings and maitre d’s. “You’ll likely be greeted at the door, and informed of the operating process,” explains McClarkin. “And if it’s possible, there’ll be a one-directional flow of people.” You can also expect your time-honoured local to be a bit more tech-conscious. “We’re working with app companies to explore ways that customers could book pub slots, to help manage numbers. We’ll be limiting the time that people spend there as well – but it’s for each pub to decide how to best manage their capacity.”
One option the BBPA has put forward to publicans is atlacarte. Tailored to the hospitality sector, the app can be white-labelled, meaning pubs can utilise its slot-booking technology under their own branding. “Customers can pre-order their seat based on social distancing rules, then pre-order their drinks via the app,” explains CEO Onur Simsek. Repeated orders would then be made on the app, minimising the need for bar service and queuing; customers would need to download the app ahead of their visit.
For pubs with established table service, such technology could be key to unlocking the two-metre problem from July 4. Major chains like Wetherspoons and Greene King already have their own. But apps are from the silver bullet for the industry. For one, they need an internet connection. That’s no issue for city pubs, but a stable connection is far from a given in rural establishments.
Even for those with Wi-Fi, a booking app might pose a problem for some regulars. “We have many older customers,” explains Tim Vaughan, owner of The Queens in Ludlow, Shropshire. “The idea of them using an app to see if they can come in just wouldn’t work, it’s too clinical.” Many pub regulars are over 70 – considered an at-risk group for coronavirus. Might they have to be shielded, and be barred from returning to their local? “I wouldn’t want to turn anyone away,” says Vaughan, who has set up a ‘virtual pub’ via WhatsApp so his regulars can stay in touch. “And it wouldn’t be our responsibility. Saying it’s unsafe for them, but fine for others? That doesn’t sound right.”
In central London, pubs are synonymous with work drinks, Friday nights and elbow-to-elbow bar service. With more and more working from home, there’ll be less footfall – but social distancing will remain tricky. “We can split customers across three floors, then hope over summer that people will be drinking outside on the cobbled streets,” says Patrick Frawley, owner of the Ten Bells in Spitalfields. The pub has survived war, plague and gentrification. Frawley believes it can outlast coronavirus, too. “We have to be optimistic, but it’ll be really difficult. Our space is too small to use slot-booking, and we’ll need to train staff how to keep their distance while still running the bar.”
Many landlords have taken advantage of the good weather and the lockdown's easing with market stalls and takeaway service. Garath Kerr, owner of Cafe Kick in Clerkenwell, describes it as a “subsidy” in lieu of government grants. “It’s not a viable business, but it can give us a fighting chance to keep treading water until there’s a vaccine.” More and more bars might be al fresco businesses for a while. “There has to be a European approach to the way people consume alcohol outdoors,” Kerr adds.
While pubs in cities are limited by space and typically overwhelmed with numbers, those in the countryside, and the 27,000 nationwide pubs blessed with beer gardens, could be opened soon, according to one infectious disease epidemiologist. “Rural pubs have lower footfall and outdoor space which could be opened quite easily with minimal risk,” explains Nottingham University’s Keith Neal. “My village local could fit 20 socially distanced customers in there – and we rarely see that many anyway. A country pub in the Peak District is very different from a Wetherspoons in Derby.”
Whether those pubs could open with a slew of hygiene and safety measures to convince customers they’re safe – while retaining a semblance of the famed pub experience – is another matter. “I don’t want to put plexiglass screens around the bar,” Barton says. “You couldn’t do one-directional flow in our pub. The building is several hundred years old and the bar is tiny, long and thin. Everyone bumps into each other – that’s part of its charm.”
With little else to go on, pubs across the country are now figuring out how to remodel traditional, long-established businesses for the new normal – even if it means operating at a loss. “We’ll need more tables for two as many are isolating together as a pair,” Vaughan explains. “Without large group bookings, we think we’ll be doing 40 Sunday roasts instead of 100. But then, we might need extra staff on the door and for table service: less trade, more costs. I think it’s absolute knife-edge whether it’s sustainable.”
But publicans have little choice. It’s that, or face last orders. “We have to give it a go,” Vaughan adds. “Running a closed pub is more expensive than you think: we still have to pay £1,000 a week in insurance and energy costs. And the little help we did receive from the government has gone.”
Pubs may have been in long-term decline: more than a quarter have closed this century. But they remain a key employer, with nearly half-a-million working in the UK pub and bar sector.And, of course, they’re a British institution – and a cornerstone for many communities. “Our locals identify with the Drunken Duck desperately, it’s a part of their lives,” Barton says. “Many are lonely and isolated. The pub is very familiar and comforting, and in the time that you need that most, it’s not available.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
