A day after Boris Johnson strongly advised people to avoid pubs, clubs and theatres as part of a dramatic escalation of measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Guardian visited venues in three parts of the country – Rochdale, Wareham and London – to assess how closely the government’s advice was being followed and found many publicans and their customers in a defiant mood. Rochdale, Greater Manchester Opposite Rochdale’s Gothic town hall, the doors of the town’s busiest and best-known pub, the Flying Horse Hotel, were defiantly open. “We will stay open until the minute they tell us we have to shut,” said its owner, Ben Boothman, 38, surveying the smattering of drinkers sat around the oak bar. Boothman announced in a stirring Facebook post on Tuesday that the pub would continue serving punters as it had done “for the last 330 years”. The pub had endured “some of humanity’s biggest threats”, he wrote. “Smallpox, Spanish flu, six recessions, two world wars, the rise and fall of an empire, the start and end to our involvement in Europe, Napoleon, Hitler and Mr Blobby.” Yet it is coronavirus – a disease that emerged only four months ago – that poses the biggest threat to its existence. Boothman owns six pubs and restaurants in Rochdale, employing 100 people and paying £20,000 a week in wages. The effect of Boris Johnson’s press conference on Monday night was immediate and dramatic. “It probably took £15,000 off us – that one announcement,” he said.
The Flying Horse would usually serve 40 meals on a Monday night. It served only three after the prime minister’s speech. There were a few more drinkers than usual – “That’s northern defiance for you,” he said – but many of the regulars stayed away on Tuesday. Worse, the coronavirus is so novel that Boothman is not covered by his insurers. “At the minute we’re just haemorrhaging money,” he said. The government’s advice for people to stay away – but allowing them to remain open – presented pubs with the “worst case scenario”, he said. “I will never voluntarily shut the doors and lay my staff off. The government needs to tell us to do it but they don’t have the balls. It’s a shitshow, but you can get through a shitshow with a bit of guidance.”
Lunchtime punters were similarly defiant. “Why would you tell people not to go there but leave the pubs open? It’s a bit silly. I think the prime minister’s a bit of a divvy,” said Melissa Parker, 28, a student who popped into the Flying Horse for a meal after shopping in the town centre. “I just think if the pubs are open then I will be in them – until it’s on lockdown.” Boothman has offered free rooms in the hotel above his pub for people worried about potentially giving the virus to loved ones at home. The pub will also offer deliveries via JustEat later this week. Even then, he said, the situation is dire across the town. “Takings yesterday were frightening. Frightening,” he said. JH Wareham, Dorset Drinking buddies Frank Tranter, 80, and Julian Thomas, 72, were joking about the idea of self-isolation as they nursed pints of beer at the bar of the Duke of Wellington in Wareham, Dorset. “If and when the government says that we absolutely can’t go out, I’ll think seriously about it,” said Tranter. “Until then we’re going to do our self-isolating right here.” Thomas agreed. “It’s important for locals like us to keep pubs going. If we don’t come, places like this will go bust. We are keeping a metre apart, though.”
Outside the pub the staff have set up a sign reading: “Alcohol kills the virus.” Adrian Hole, the chef/manager, was busy frying up fish and chip lunches (£4.95 on a Tuesday). “It’s been as busy as ever,” he said. “We’re being careful not to over-order but we have to keep on. We’re just a small free house. We can’t afford to shut.” James Warren, the owner of the Salt Pig farm shop and cafe on North Street, said breakfast had been quiet but it had picked up for lunchtime. “It’s been a very difficult time – a long winter, rainy weather, Brexit, the general election. And then we’ve got this.” Warren has concerns, such as whether 26 weddings he is due to cater through the spring and summer will be cancelled. But he is also looking for the possible bright side. “We have lots of second-home owners here. If people leave London to come to the country, we may do well,” he said.
One of his regulars, David Burbidge, 75, was tucking into a pulled pork Purbeck pasty. “I wanted to come out and support this place,” he said. “I feel fine and don’t think I need to stay at home.” Almost every shop, cafe and restaurant remained open in Wareham. The library was busy with elderly people picking up the free paper the Swanage and Wareham Advertiser. The tourist information office said people were out and about going for walks. The nail bar was doing reasonable business. A community cafe, attached to a church, was one of the few places that had closed. A notice outside read: “Out of responsibility for our volunteers and customers, we have decided to close.”
Mother and son Jane Spencer and Andrew Welch, who run the Anglebury guesthouse, bar and restaurant, were gloomier than most. They also remain open but worked out that they have already lost more than £6,000 in cancelled guesthouse bookings. “We’re caught between the devil and the deep blue sea,” said Welch. “If we close we commit business suicide. If we stay open we could be risking our health.” Spencer criticised the government’s handling of the crisis. “We have full insurance, including for business interruption, but if the government doesn’t tell us we have to close then we won’t get it.” They are already considering laying off staff. “We’ve been going 20 years and the last 18 months have been our best,” said Spencer. “But we don’t know what we’re going to do now. It’s potentially disastrous.” SM Fleet Street, London On Fleet Street, business at the oldest Irish pub in London was struggling. Steven Rowlands, who has been the landlord of The Tipperary for more than 15 years, said he stands to lose £10,000 in one day as St Patrick’s Day custom evaporated. Every year the pub opens early (10.30am) to accommodate revellers. He should have already served between 60-70 people, as “everybody comes here”; but by noon he had served only four – including one punter who was drinking through a straw while wearing a surgical mask. The upstairs restaurant had seen all 35 of its bookings swiftly cancelled on Monday night as public fears about going to pubs set in following the prime minister’s statement.
Down in the cellar, Rowlands gestured towards 25-30 barrels, full of Guinness, that would, on a typical St Paddy’s Day, be close to running dry by now. “By 4pm I’d usually be putting in an order for more Guinness – not this year. There are 88 pints to a barrel, so here I’m sitting on over 2,500 pints of Guinness alone, let alone the beer, lager and everything else I’ve got to sell.”
He had expected a downturn and had not ordered the seafood bar the pub would usually have at this time of year. By 2pm things had picked up somewhat, but nowhere near enough – Rowlands said the tills were two-thirds down on what they should be. “You usually can’t fit through the door in here, we’d have people out drinking on the street. Not this year.” A great supporter of Boris Johnson, Rowlands criticised the lack of clarity from the government. “Either you do it and close everything, or you don’t. Right now we have to get on with it, the world can’t stop turning, I have no choice at the moment but to stay open. If I shut, I still have rent, bills and staff to pay. So I can’t shut unless the government says I have to.
“I’m looking to be down £12,000-15,000 since last Friday afternoon. We need help – whether it’s with rent, council tax, business rates, somebody needs to compensate us if we’re told to shut because I’m still liable to pay the bills.” Also at the bar was Brian Porter, 73, who used to run the Tipperary. He added that the government needed to be clear about what pubs were supposed to do. “These businesses already operating on small margins – if we take it upon ourselves to close, what do we do about all these bills? Right now, we’re in limbo. We can only close if we’re told to close.” LC Oxford Street, London One of the busiest shopping districts in the country had an air of devastation. Landmark stores such as Nike, Apple and Microsoft were closed, the Scribbles card shop had one of its worst days despite an imminent Mother’s Day, while popular chains such as Pret a Manger had already shortened their opening hours. Francesca Toma, manager at Pret’s store in Hanover Square, wondered if they could remain open in the longer term as a row of staff dealt with a trickle of customers. “Normally this would be completely full, there would be nine queues of people out the door, you couldn’t be able to see the fridges,” she said.
Kintan Japanese restaurant on Princes Street was completely empty. “Normally we would have 120 people here, today we have zero,” said manager Carmelo Giaconia. “I have sent six people home already and if it continues like this more or less the same tonight. When Boris Johnson said people should avoid restaurants what does that mean? If you go to the restaurant, it’s your problem? Everyone here cares about the health of customers, we sanitise, but our leader doesn’t seem to care about people who pay taxes and I pay a lot of taxes,” he added. At the Shakespeares Head in Carnaby Street, only four people were lured in by the St Patrick’s Day promotion. Even the Salvation Army, on which homeless people rely for food, had closed but was expected to provide takeaway food.
Others were taking the health of people very seriously – Tilly, 44, had run 10km in from Muswell Hill to avoid mingling with the public as she wanted to protect herself from a potential infection ahead of a meeting with some vulnerable people. LOC