With each day... it’s harder to see the way out
In a welcome return of our column from Ashbourne publican MARK GRIST, he explains what it’s like to be the custodian of a very empty Smith’s Tavern, in St John Street, during the lockdown
AS we continue to exist in this strange world, I hope everyone is well and able to cope with it.
Everyone has their own difficult situation caused by this pandemic and I hope we can all get back to a proper normal life.
It has been 53 days now. The pub is still and silent, the beer is sadly out of date and wasted.
With each day, it is frankly becoming harder and harder to see a clear way out, especially for my industry.
We were the first sector to be hit, when the public was asked to avoid our businesses without closing us down, and we will be the last to resume trading. Even then, the future is both complicated and bleak.
Taking in measures introduced in other countries (and how can we be any different?), we will only be allowed approximately 25-33% capacity, but will be subject to 100% costs, including increased staffing above normal levels.
The pub industry runs on slender margins when everything is free and open, so it is impossible to see how we can operate under restrictions and make a profit or even close to it.
Our business plans and models are built to high footfall and repeat custom, but there will be a natural fear of the public to come into enclosed spaces with other people, even given high levels of protection and sanitation.
This is especially true of venues such as mine, where the intimate nature of a small, but popular pub will be the exact opposite of what people may feel safe in.
Larger pubs with big rooms and outside seating will be more adaptable to receiving customers, but a rough calculation of the area and seating available here will mean a “capacity” of probably 1220 people under the current guidelines, a figure impossible to achieve a living from.
There are many aspects of the pub trade that will take several weeks to get together once the announcement to reopen is made and it will be vital for the Government to give us that time to prepare, but it may be that we have to remain shut for longer until more open measures are permitted.
Having laid out that unappetising scenario, I want to thank all those regulars who I have encountered (from a distance) while out shopping or exercising, who have expressed great support and indicated a huge willingness to come in once we can reopen.
Their enthusiasm is very welcome and does help me to contemplate the future of the Tavern.
To that end, and in anticipation that we can continue (provided the brewery comes up with a suitable financial offer that allows us to continue trading without having accrued heavy debt during closure), we have embarked on a programme of redecoration of the building.
Now fully repainted throughout, the bar itself is being stripped back and re-varnished. Many small bits have been repaired here and there and there are some new wall decorations up.
The aim is for it to be the same old Tavern that people love, but with a renewed warmth.
It is investing in a hopeful new future, but one which is very precarious as it stands right now.
My hope is that we can welcome you all back in sometime soon and we can then raise a glass to the future… and to those lost during this extraordinary time in all our lives.
Be safe, be healthy.
The support from people I have seen out and about does help me contemplate the future of the Tavern