Last orders for my beloved pub
AS THE landlady of a small pub and B&B on the coastal path in a picturesque Devon village, I can’t believe how quickly everything has changed. The Boringdon Arms was our local for many years — my husband Greg and I even had our wedding reception here — and we’ve been running the pub for four years. March 1 started as normal with a lot of Sunday lunch bookings and a quiz in the evening. Coronavirus was being talked about, but it was business as usual. The following Thursday we set off for Butlin’s for the British Darts Open Championship. It was a sell-out with all the top names and thousands of people packed into a small venue. Everyone was talking about the virus, but the biggest moan was the queue for the gents in order to wash their hands properly. That weekend, the over-70s were told to self-isolate. A lot of our customers are elderly so the quiz was a lot quieter and footfall started to drop in the pub. Food sales were falling off and there were fewer walkers on the coastal path. On Monday, March 16, Boris Johnson made his speech telling people to avoid going to the pub or restaurants. It was the end-of-the-season darts match that night so we were busy, but the rest of the week got steadily quieter. Friday, March 20 looked like the beginning of a busy weekend. The B&B was fully booked and it was Mother’s Day on the Sunday, so all the tables were booked. My husband went early to the cash and carry to get the meat for the Sunday roast with all the trimmings. The day carried on as normal until 5pm when Boris announced all pubs must close by the end of the evening. There was a real sense of community as our customers were making sure everyone was OK. We gave away all the veg we had bought. We had Vera Lynn playing and everyone was singing along to We’ll Meet Again and (There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover. We all now understood the seriousness of the situation. At closing time the lights went out and we shut for the foreseeable future. We have five staff on the books and were worried about what was going to happen next. The following Monday, Boris announced the rescue package for pubs, hotels and restaurants, but the information was sketchy. More details came out over the week and our staff have been furloughed to keep their jobs safe. We have no income until the grant comes through. We are in lockdown, rattling around our empty pub. We fill our days doing all the jobs that never normally get done and walking for an hour along the coastal path, which is outside our front door. There is a real sense of politeness when we pass other people with everyone giving way to maintain social distance and saying thank you. The police are stopping sightseers driving into the area and the car park at the local beauty spot has been closed. We are going through a scary time, but we are all in it together and hopefully we will come out the other side as a kinder society.
SUE FOXWELL, Turnchapel, Devon.