LLANYMYNECH, England – In normal times, no one notices the invisible border between England and Wales that crosses Llanymynech, a town with a post office, a church and no less than three bars.
But the Anglo-Welsh border, disputed in previous centuries, has once again become a disputed front line, this time for British drinkers.
England allowed restaurants, cafes and bars to reopen on Saturday, meaning two pubs in Llanymynech could serve customers again after more than 100 days of coronavirus blockade.
Less than 100 yards away, on the Welsh side of the village, the Dolphin Inn remained firmly closed, in accordance with Welsh government rules that delayed the opening of bars until July 13, and then allowed drinking only in gardens or other outdoor spaces.
The ruling has put the village in the media spotlight, reminding residents of the existence of an administrative border, more like a state border than an international border with passport control points, which slips through their village, even cutting a building, and then escapes through the surrounding field.
It has forced John Turner, owner of the closed Dolphin Inn, to consider his future and whether he could give up on the pub trade. But on Saturday it didn’t stop him from having a drink at rival Bradford Arms in England, where he gave a philosophical tone with a pint of beer.
“It’s ridiculous,” Mr. Turner, who is English, said of the restrictions, “but there must be a border at some point, it just happens to be on it.”
This is not the first time that Llanymynech’s pubs have met at the end of the Anglo-Welsh divide. In the spring of 2006, Wales banned smoking in bars, a move that was not introduced in England until the summer of 2007, thus attracting many smokers to the two English pubs for the time being.
At the end of Bradford Arms Street is a hotel that has disappeared, crossed by the official Anglo-Welsh border. In an earlier era, one of its two bars was closed every Sunday, when by law pubs in England were allowed to open, but pubs in Wales were not.
The rules are different this time around because the Welsh government in Cardiff has power over issues like health, education and public administration. Like Scotland, Wales has generally taken a more cautious approach to coronavirus controls than England, for example, by maintaining travel restrictions and waiting longer to open nonessential stores.
Wales plans to reopen the hospitality trade more slowly, in part due to criticism from some scientists that England is taking an unnecessary risk by opening pubs, restaurants and many other businesses at the same time, and on a Saturday when people tend to drink more. .
Public health experts say that outdoor venues pose a lower risk of spreading the virus, so drinkers in Welsh pubs will have to meet in breweries or parking lots when the rules are relaxed, at least initially.
All of this has forced residents of the border area to think about where they live, who is making decisions, and who they blame for any inconvenience.
“Normally, you don’t think about the border, but it has caused headaches because Wales has made different decisions,” said Ruth Allcock, a retired coach from the nearby town of Pant, England, as she headed to Bradford Arms with her husband for lunch. . Ms. Allcock added that the travel restrictions in Wales had made it more difficult for her grandchildren to live on that side of the border.
“What we think the UK was no longer seems to be that,” Allcock added.
Inside the pub, some were happy to be back at the familiar places, including Jonathan Lawley, a tree surgeon who said he had been in the pub’s parking lot 10 minutes earlier, awaiting its opening at 11:30 a.m. “If they had been opening at 6 in the morning, I would have been here at 10 at 6,” he said.
But at the post office and at the town store on the Welsh side of town, Jennifer Bridger said she and her husband would not go out for a drink until they could complete “the triangle”, visiting the three local bars.
“We can’t have a favorite,” Bridger said, adding that although the post office is less than 100 yards from the border, it had been to England only once during the shutdown.
A little further in Wales, Gareth Powell, who cultivates around 190 acres, planned to venture into a pub in a different English village, crossing a border that was fought so much in previous centuries that Powell recovered a handful of musket. balls on your ground.
The area had Roman and Bronze Age settlements, and Powell believes his house is built on the site of Carreghofa Castle, which is believed to have been destroyed in the 13th century.
“It has always been border,” said Powell, who is not impressed with the Welsh government’s decision-making. “They do things differently just to justify being there. If they did the same as the English, they wouldn’t need them, would they?
Jason Farr, the owner of the other pub on the English side of Llanymynech, which reopened a few hours after Bradford Arms agreed. Mr. Farr, owner of the Cross Keys Hotel, is English but lives in Wales: “It’s cheaper on the border,” he said, describing the border as “never thought of.”
“The only time is if there is a sporting event, England versus Wales, where you will see half the people walking around with England shirts, half the people with Welsh shirts,” he said. “But there is no animosity between them.”
Mr Farr was only partially reopening out of concern that people would come in large numbers from Wales. On Saturday and Sunday, he was serving drinks for just five hours and up to a maximum of 40 customers who had made reservations.
“I am relieved, happy and ecstatic that we are open and welcoming customers back to the venue, but we have had to impose additional restrictions on our own behalf because Wales is not open,” said Farr.
Back at Bradford Arms, around 40 people had gathered in the late afternoon, but there was no sign of a massive invasion.
Mick Williams, a retired aircraft engineer, confessed to having traveled from Wales to drink, though only walking from the other end of the village.
Bob Hedley, the owner of the Bradford Arms, said he was happy with the reopening, but after stocking up on around 140 gallons of beer, he still hadn’t had to order additional supplies.
Mr. Turner had long since returned to the closed Dolphin Inn, explaining that he had other plans for the night and the next few days, when he will visit his mother.
“I won’t be staying to see all of this happen next week,” he said.
