Pubs and cafés turn to deliveries as Boris Johnson orders shutdown

It came as prime minister Boris Johnson announced all pubs, bars, cafés would close indefinitely. The closures, which also applies to museums, leisure centres and gyms, would be continually reassessed to see if the measure could be relaxed.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday afternoon, the prime minister urged people: “You may be tempted to go out tonight and I say to you please don’t, you may think that you are invincible - but there is no guarantee that you will get it.

“But you can still be a carrier of the disease and pass it on. We want you as far as possible to stay at home.”

Reacting to the news, Jonathan Crisp, landlord at The Gluepot in the Railway Village, said: “We’ve been in a difficult position because we need to take money but that’s contravening what’s best for people, really.

“At last Boris Johnson has given us instruction to close, which means most pubs are covered on insurance for that. He’s also ensured the staff they’re not going to be impoverished.

“We’re in a comfortable position. We’ll do a bit of cleaning and go from there.”

Tom Gee, owner of Swindon-based brewery the Hop Kettle Brewery, said: “Coronavirus has affected us from day one. We’ve closed all our bars under government recommendations.

“Obviously it’s a shame but it’s completely understandable. We’ve got to listen to the experts.”

Boris Johnson

He said the brewery, which has bars the Eternal Optimist and the Hop Kettle on Devizes Road in Old Town, was looking into takeaway and delivery options to ensure beer fans could still get their hands on the company’s brews.

The prime minister had found himself in hot water on Monday after telling people to avoid going to pubs and bars.

On Tuesday night, a day after Mr Johnson’s press conference, Old Town’s Devizes Road was like a ghost town. The ukulele group had cancelled its usual practice session at The Tuppenny bar. Just a handful of diners sat in the windows of usually packed out tapas restaurant Los Gatos.

One drinker said: “I see it as a deprivation of our liberty, not being able to come to the pub.”

“This is the first week this year we’ve been down – and we’re down by about 35 per cent,” said Jamie Stapleton, co-owner of The Tuppenny.

Nationwide’s decision to encourage staff to work from home together with the London contractors staying away had hit the after work drinks trade, the bread-and-butter of many Old Town pubs.

Jamie said: “I never thought three-and-a-half years ago when we came into this that within three-and-a-half years of having a business we’d have to think about asking members of staff to reduce their hours. That’s horrific. We’re a really tiny team and we’re absolutely reliant on our wonderful staff.

“On Monday afternoon I was genuinely concerned, really, about the lack of certainty.

Wood Street

“We were just told by our prime minister to stay away from this type of business – and that’s worrying for lots of reasons. You think, actually, do you want to even come to work because you’ve been told by someone who’s been advised by the top scientists to stay away.”

Jason Putt, owner of The Hop, said Mr Johnson’s pub warning had had the obvious effect.

The pub had never in eight years since opening dipped into its overdraft. “It’s difficult. I have got staff to pay next week,” said Jason.

Both pubs had introduced extra safety measures. Floors and surfaces were being scoured every night with bleach rather than the usual cleaner, said The Tuppenny’s Jamie Stapleton, who was collecting glassware with clinical gloved-hands.

The Hop had temporarily suspended burger pop-up the Pick-up Point. The Tup had closed during the day, when the bulk of its customers had been older men – one of the groups most at risk from the coronavirus.

The Tuppenny launched a beer delivery service this week, taking cans and bottles of its craft beer to people’s homes. “For the first time in my life I’m a delivery boy,” quipped Jamie.

Jason at The Hop said he was buying new containers so people could buy draft beer to take home.

Both praised their customers. Jamie said one had posted an envelope through the door with a crisp £20 note and the message “here’s £20 for some beers I don’t want to redeem”.

Tapas bar Los Gatos closed its doors on Wednesday saying it was in the interests of the health of the public and their staff.

A sign outside The Tuppenny

Co-owner Shareen Campbell called on other businesses to follow suit. “This is not a selfish act of self-preservation. It is a risky strategy for a business but it is in the interests of public health.”

The popular restaurant, which employs 23 people many from coronavirus-hit countries on the continent, has launched a fundraising page on website in a bid to raise £25,000 to help pay staff during the closure. In exchange for donations people are promised rewards ranging from secret recipes to meal vouchers.

Shareen and partner Phil Saunter wrote: “We intend to stand by our staff financially as well as protecting their health and jobs. We plan to re-open as soon as it is safe.

“Like so many other small, independent businesses, we now face an unpredictable and potentially very grave future and we need your help. Our insurance, although it covers notifiable diseases, will not pay out for loss of business due to coronavirus. The government have offered us loans, which we don’t want to risk taking on, and a small cash grant, but we don’t know when or how we’ll get it.”

It’s not just bars branching into the delivery business.

Los Gatos, Devizes Road

If supermarkets have been one of the winners of what Boris Johnson last week labelled the worst public health crisis in a generation, another has been health food shops.

Kris Talikowski owns Old Town juice bar The Core, specialising in fruit and vegetable based juices with names like Zinger and Recharger.

He has seen footfall at the Devizes Road café increase with people enquiring about the best ingredients to boost the immune system.

“There has been so much government advice about what to do except something that's obvious to us, and that to do everything possible to boost your health,” he said.

“If you believe the experts most of us will get it at some stage, so if you apply that theory we all need to look at everything possible to boost immunity.”

From today, the store is launching a delivery scheme – taking juices and vegetable boxes to people’s doors.

Kris said: “We will continue to remain open unless we are formally locked down by government and we are just moving to a delivery model. We will survive, we will just evolve in the process.”