WORLD’S SMALLEST PUB AIMING TO REOPEN NEXT MONTH
‘IT WILL BE ONE-IN, ONE-OUT’ AS BAR LOOKS TO GET BACK ON TRACK
THE world’s smallest pub is aiming to open up next month but it will be “one-in-one-out,” say the owners.
How do you keep socially distant in a bar that is less than six square metres is the question the directors of The Signal Box Inn at Cleethorpes are tussling with.
Director of Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, John Kerr said he is waiting for the Government to blow the whistle so his pub business can reopen to the public and he is aiming for July 4.
Bosses of the tiny bar on Kings Road have rescheduled their famous cider festival for August after having to postpone it last month due to the coronavirus lockdown.
He told the Grimsby Telegraph: “We are making plans to reopen and want to open as soon as possible, so long as it is safe to do so.” John said: “Having the planet’s smallest pub will mean we have to set up a queuing system. It will be one-in-and-one out and we will have it clearly marked out. It is good that the Prime Minister has indicated that pubs with beer gardens will be the first to open up. We are fortunate we have the beer garden outside. “Fingers crossed we will be able to open up, but it will be with a skeleton team. It would be unrealistic to offer glasses so we are reluctantly serving with disposable plastic cups, which is not the best eco-friendly way but we cannot wash in the bar.”
John added: “We will be encouraging people to buy in larger amounts at one time to reduce the number of visits to the bar.” The famous bar’s pool table and darts games will be inaccessible due to the restrictions.
But John said the plans are in place to open to reduce the deficit of having had no income for nearly 10 weeks.
He is awaiting the Government’s decision on bars opening which is expected to be announced on June 18.
“We have been in limbo all that time, but I don’t see why we cannot open on July 4. There are people screaming out for places to open and without any income, it has squeezed resources. All the plans for the business have been on hold,” told the director.
He said he set up a crowdfunding campaign called Keep Us On Track in order to keep the business afloat.
John said: “None of us could foresee the length of the lockdown and for a lot of the businesses in Cleethorpes it came at the worst time.
“Like many we have invested a lot in the business over winter but we have not had the income, so we have asked the public to help us.”
He said 50 per cent of donations to Keep Us On Track will go towards the railway and the other half to the Cleethorpes pub. A target of £10,000 has been set and already the team are over a third of the way there.
John and fellow director Peter Bryant are looking forward to welcoming customers to the Cleethorpes Folk and Cider Festival, with more than 100 ales and ciders on offer, which has been rescheduled for Saturday to Monday, August 29 to 31.
The crowdfund link is https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/keepusontrack