So you went to the pub last night and were asked to leave at 09:59pm, only to have the cold air hit your bladder and you had to beg to be let in again to use the toilet! Joking aside, what is the new 10pm Curfew all about, what are the Government trying to achieve and what will it do to local pubs?
“To be honest, I’ve been closing at 10pm the past few Fridays due to lack of trade,” admits Pete Spittles from The Last Heretic. “All in all I think it had to be done by the Government so as to keep the R number down.”
Richard Muir from The Weighbridge Inn isn’t so sure: “I really can’t understand what the 10pm Curfew is going to achieve? I have seen no evidence to show pubs are a big cause of the increase in cases. From what I have seen it is Care Homes and education settings that are the major contributors to this; what extra restrictions are in place there?”
“I believe our industry is being unfairly targeted,” agrees Mandy Addis from The Coopers Tavern. “Are they going to allow all takeaway shops to remain open after the 10pm curfew? You only need to walk down any street with one in to see people congregating without social distancing! Surely a 10pm Curfew will only encourage house parties?”
Carl Stout from the Devonshire Arms is worried about the impact on pub culture in general: “In the short term any restrictions will have a significant effect. Regular pub goers are creatures of habit and we have a lot of customers who enjoy a beer later in the evening, we just hope they will decide to visit the pub earlier in the evening. In the long term I worry that people will give up on pubs and some customers will not return even when we have a vaccine.”
“I also understand that the Government have to do something,” observes Lee Betts from the Derby Inn, “whatever that may be, it will always be wrong.”
“We were running on reduced hours anyway so hopefully the effect on trade should be minimal,” says Richard, something that is echoed by Lee, Pete and Mandy. “Having to enforce the rules won’t be fun but we will ensure we keep our pub as a safe and friendly environment as we always do.”
One thing is for certain, pubs need your custom and support as we enter what will be a long hard winter, just make sure that you’ve gone for a piss in good time before they ask you to leave.
Are Beer Festivals a thing of the past, well at least for the foreseeable future? With current restrictions a traditional event is out of the question obviously, even The Great British Beer Festival has gone virtual, however there is a Beer Festival happening in Tamworth starting this Thursday and running to Sunday, albeit with a twist.
The King’s Ditch
One of the organisers of the Tamworth Town Beer Festival is Adam Randall who has been part of CAMRA for around 25 years. Adam is the Membership Secretary and magazine editor of the Lichfield, Sutton and Tamworth Branch; so a dedicated and long serving member of the campaign.
“Replace is a strong word, but essentially yes,” muses Adam on the purpose of this event. “We were keen to keep our normal festival in people’s minds even though we can’t do it and provide the usual extra footfall for the town’s pubs; the normal CAMRA festival draws in a lot of visitors and the pubs have a busy weekend. a win-win, if you will.”
The lead pubs are the Kings Ditch, the Sir Robert Peel and Tamworth Tap.
“We have approached others but really they’re struggling to do much meaningful; they’ve yet to properly bounce back post lockdown. The lead three always were the strongest contenders in town for both choice and quality and that really has helped them bounce back. Over the weekend there will be 40+ ales, 40+ ciders, though the ales won’t or can’t all be on at once.”
The Tamworth Tap
Although the CAMRA logo is on the poster, this is not an official CAMRA event, however it is endorsed by the local branch.
“This is about giving something back to the pubs who in normal years are significant financial supporters of the CAMRA festival with generous sponsorship and supply of ales,” observes Adam. “Truth be told, we didn’t even think of consulting CAMRA HQ, there’s no financial involvement by the branch.”
Unlike the months and months of work needed to organise a big beer festival, the whole event has come together at a remarkable speed.
“We had the conversations with the pubs about five weeks in advance of the event. It’s so quick because all of the usual infrastructure issues disappear such as venue, equipment, staffing, setup etc.”
Sir Robert Peel
To keep costs at a minimum, festival t-shirts, commemorative glasses and official programmes will not be available.
“Honest answer is, we never really thought about it,” admits Adam regarding the programme. “As we’re not in control of beer ordering or when they go on, it’s a minefield of likely inaccuracy and disappointment, quite apart from cost. We will look at what online info we can provide.”
As for glasses and t-shirts: “Nah! It would involve us getting too deeply embedded in the event. The idea was really just to provide publicity and then let the pubs largely get on with it! If it became on ongoing event then there’d be the motivation to do more, but it really is intended just as a stopgap.”
The local publicans were unsurprisingly very receptive to the idea.
“If we had to twist their arms then we’d maybe have just abandoned it, no point in pressing others to take risks they’re not happy with. We have a strong relationship with them and they’re always supportive, but also because of the normal footfall issue as above, it should work for them in terms of pound notes! The key thing was knowing that the places were already strong on COVID measures, this won’t turn into a glorified reputation destroying rave and all are recommending or requiring booking.”
Promotion has also been kept very simple.
“Other than a small number of posters displayed locally, it has been almost entirely by social media and surrounding branches. We’re also strong on regular communication with our 1300+ branch members, so they’ll get a couple of emails on it.
“Primarily it’s been such a breeze, I’d say it’s important not to twist arms, and also manage expectations. Should an event be a damp squib, it’s important that the pubs went into it with open eyes i.e. won’t blame CAMRA!”
Such an event has naturally attracted a few negative opinions.
“We’ve had a few critics, people who think we shouldn’t be doing this in a time of COVID but otherwise we’ve had a really good response. We’re happy that the pubs have the measures in place to provide a safe but enjoyable environment, and we’re pleased to be helping both pubs and pub-goers edge back to normality.”
If you can, head over to Tamworth and support the event; The King’s Ditch have eight ales, 20 ciders and three perries, the Tamworth Tap twenty ales including a Welsh selection and twenty ciders and The Sir Robert Peel 15 ales including pub favourites and some from Yorkshire as well as six ciders. Booking is strongly advised for all three pubs, contact details are on the poster.
