‘People want to put Covid behind them’: UK pubs hopeful as drinkers return
In its nearly 500-year history, Ye Olde Mitre in Holborn has served beer under 21 monarchs, survived the English civil war and emerged unscathed from the Great Fire of London.
But few events have affected the pubs trade quite so profoundly as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lockdowns choked off trade for months at a time. Even once venues reopened, social distancing restrictions and work-from-home guidance left city centres deserted and ruined the key Christmas period.
“We’re a real ale house so people come from far and wide for our beers: regulars, office workers and tourists,” said Judith Norman, the historic pub’s landlady.
“Our regulars tried to support us through the pandemic but with working from home we were a lot quieter than normal.”
At Fuller’s, the pub chain that owns Ye Olde Mitre, trade was down by as much as 70% at some of the city centre venues that rely heavily on after-work drinkers. Some had to shut their doors temporarily.
Now though, as plan B restrictions in England are eased, hope is returning at Ye Olde Mitre and elsewhere. Familiar faces are gradually resurfacing, dropping in for a pint after the odd office day here and there.
“They’re easing themselves back in and we’re hoping they’ll return full time next week,” Norman said.
The Fuller’s chief executive, Simon Emeny, thinks this weekend is building to a Monday “trigger point” for revival, with easing of plan B coinciding with the period just after payday and the end of Dry January, which came at the worst possible time.
“I detect a growing desire for people to put Covid behind them and start behaving as they used to,” he said.
“You’ll see an escalation next week and I suspect that normality will build back faster and stronger than it did in the autumn.”
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