Pandemic piles on pressure for pubs
Struggling hospitality industry suffering from Covid restrictions
PANDEMIC conditions – including lockdown restrictions on hospitality – have placed a renewed strain on West Berkshire’s pubs, with rural establishments at a particular disadvantage.
Before coronavirus, viability was already a major concern for village pubs.
In recent years, they have found themselves catering to a small market, mostly comprising of locals.
This is in spite of the district boasting CAMRA’s current UK Pub of the Year, Aldworth’s historic Bell Inn.
The Newbury Weekly News has identified 18 closures across West Berkshire since 2009.
The imposition of Tier 2 restrictions last week ensures continued strain on the industry, with the vast majority of pubs unable to reopen.
In order to stay afloat – and to maintain social links to their communities – many businesses have turned their attentions to volunteering.
Lockdown has compounded the isolation felt by a number of villagers.
West Berkshire has a large elderly population, and this section of society have often found themselves in a difficult situation, unable to access shops or even leave their homes.
Therefore, new services provided by pubs have proved a lifeline for a great many residents.
Some establishments have converted into community hubs, organising the delivery of food parcels and essentials.
This ‘rebirth’ of the village pub as a charitable enterprise has been lauded both locally and nationally.
The Fox at Peasemore is a particular success story.
In March – right at the start of lockdown – the pub relaunched as a ‘popup shop’ and locals volunteered to help with deliveries.
It set out to keep vulnerable and needy Peasemore residents supplied with food and essentials.
In September, the pub netted a Great British Pub Award, in the new
‘Community Services’ category.
The inaugural honour set out to recognise the contributions of pubs towards local relief efforts.
The Fox was distinguished in this regard, placing itself at the centre of Peasemore’s coronavirus response.
Over the coming months, awards sponsor Coca-Cola will make £10,000 available to the pub’s management, which will be channeled into village projects.
Insiders stress that the problems of the local pub industry run much deeper than the pandemic, which has prompted a new wave of property sales across the district.
Since 2018, the owner of the Winterbourne Arms in Winterbourne has repeatedly attempted to gain permission to convert the premises into housing.
Jill Hoblin heads the Save the Winterbourne Arms campaign, which has battled to keep the pub open.
This drive has so far been successful, with plans for the conversion repeatedly thwarted.
At the end of October, however, the premises were put up for sale again, leaving the pub’s future in question.
It has now been out of operation for three years.
Mrs Hoblin said: “We’ve been looking to see what pubs are on the market, purely because the Winterbourne Arms has gone on the market.
“Looking at some of them, some of them probably haven’t adapted to the changing environment.
“To become a success, and to become a real, essential part of community life, you need to be embedded in the community.
“You need to be a destination pub, providing business to outsiders.
“I think some pubs, perhaps, are not selling the concept that things have changed – whether it’s changing lifestyles, or different menus, with lots of vegan stuff coming out now.
“They haven’t adapted to an environment that’s constantly changing.”
Mrs Hoblin emphasises the importance of such community initiatives as Peasemore’s.
She said: “I think that the community benefit of the pub is to support the backbone of the community.
“It’s really important in any environment, but probably more so than ever.”
Stella Coulthurst runs the White Hart Inn in Hamstead Marshall.
She echoes Mrs Hoblin’s sentiments, noting that lockdown has simply exposed the non-viability of many local pubs.
This, she states, is part of a longterm trend, rather than something wholly new.
Mrs Coulthurst said: “There are some big changes in the economic structure and economic framework.
“Those changes have been under way for a long time – there’s nothing particularly hard to understand about them.
“Now, with all the extra restrictions, it’s just too much for some of those venues, and terribly hard on people who dedicated their entire working life to building up their pub or their inn.”