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LONDON: The French House survived two world wars and world recessions. Charles de Gaulle is said to have frequented it and Dylan Thomas once left his manuscript for “Under Milk Wood” at the bar.
But the 129-year-old Soho pub in central London is threatened by the coronavirus outbreak, and has launched an online call for £ 80,000 ($ 92,000) to keep it running.
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“It is horribly horrible,” homemaker Lesley Lewis told AFP. “We had to do that. We didn’t have enough reserves to go back.”
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Lewis, who has run the pub for 31 years, said he does not know if the pub has closed before, although it is rumored to have closed “for a day” after being bombed in World War II.
The pub is trying to raise money from “friends, their fans, and their family” while trying to cover their ongoing costs with no income.
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“OLD AND INALIENABLE LAW”
The seven-week national shutdown has had a devastating economic impact in Britain, especially in pubs, one of the country’s most recognized institutions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered that all be closed in late March. They are unlikely to reopen before July at the earliest.
“We are taking away the old and inalienable right of free people in the UK to go to the pub,” he said gravely.
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Historians believe it may be the first time since the Great Plague of 1665, or possibly ever, that all British pubs have closed.
“In modern times, the only precedent was during World War II. Pubs sometimes closed due to a shortage of beer,” said social historian Paul Jennings.
But even during the bitter conflict they remained open as it was seen as “good for morale,” he added.
The question now is whether everyone will reopen once the lock is lifted.
DEVASTATING IMPACT
Britain is home to some 50,000 pubs, employing nearly 500,000 people, and the industry was facing difficult times even before the devastating impact of COVID-19.
The trade body of the British Beer and Pub Association said many owners have already been struggling to survive in the face of an economic attack in recent years.
Owners of “the local” have had to contend with rising beer taxes, a smoking ban, the 2008 global recession and an increase in business rates.
Traditional British pubs in city centers across the country are usually full and a focus for the local community, and customers say that being unable to go during the running of the bulls has robbed them of a key element of social interaction with friends. (Photo: AFP / Tolga Akmen)
Many owners now face the immediate problem of having to pay rent to the breweries that normally own their premises and taxes to the local council.
On top of that, they are losing stocks and have had to lay off staff, or at least manage these problems by seeking paid vacations and requesting help from the government’s small business support scheme.
“It is clearly having a devastating effect on the industry,” said Tom Stainer, executive director of CAMRA, Campaign for Real Ale, which promotes traditional British pubs.
“I think it will be naive to expect every pub to get through this.”
“BIG HOLE”
The Hearsall Inn in Coventry, central England, prides itself on having “the best look in Guinness”.
But co-owner Daniel Scott served his last drop of black stuff on March 20.
He said the current crisis is incomparable with everything he has known in the 22 years that his family has run the pub.
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The traditional pub near the city center is usually full and is a focus for the local community.
So Scott is confident they will weather the storm.
“I am positive,” he said. “We are well established and have good repeat customers and if you ask any of them they are eager to go back to the pub.”
The regulars are desperate to return to alcohol.
Rakesh Modha would go to his local town The Linden Tree, in Bursledon, near Southampton, in southern England, up to four times a week, helping out with a weekly questionnaire, among other things.
“I’m getting lost and interacting with my friends,” said the accountant. “A huge hole is evident in my life.”
As the government seeks to gradually lift closure restrictions, bars may reopen in some way in the coming weeks and months.
But there are likely to be changes: Scott says that protective screens for staff and customers may need to be introduced, and door staff employed to restrict numbers.
Whatever form it takes, Jennings believes pubs will weather the storm.
“The pub is clearly going to be around for a long time,” he said.
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