'Pubs probably shouldn't be open,' says Preston landlord as partial lockdown begins

Paul Butcher, the licensee of the Stanley Arms on Lancaster Road, said that the city was noticeably quieter on Saturday night than it had been in the weeks since venues had been allowed to reopen after lockdown.

“Our sales were down by about a third already this year and our trade has changed significantly – we’re doing a lot more food business during the day and much less in terms of people coming out on a Friday and Saturday night.

“We were already confident in the Covid measures we had put in place and are running things very much as you would a restaurant rather than a pub or bar, with everybody seated at tables.

“It does make you feel a bit like a schoolteacher rather than a landlord – telling people to sit down and keep the noise down, so that nobody is shouting over each other,” Paul explained.

Under the new measures, people from more than one household are not allowed to mix indoors in places like pubs and restaurants - nor in each other's homes or gardens.

“We heard about all this at 5pm on Friday and it wasn’t at all obvious what we as businesses had to do. By Saturday lunchtime, there was a whisper going round that it was up to us to police the rules about households not mixing.

“Then we found out that the police and council would be coming round to check our procedures in a few hours’ time. I thought, ‘What procedures?’ – we’d only just found out about it.

“I totally understand why it has to be enforced straight away by the authorities locally, but the government should make sure the expectations on businesses are clear,” Paul said.

He also made a startling admission – that pubs probably should not have reopened in the first place.

“We were all obliged to open once the go-ahead was given, otherwise we would have lost staff and customers - but if I'm being absolutelty honest, we shouldn't have done.

"And now we have reopened, we’re being hammered with new restrictions.

“The whole idea of a pub is to provide a nice relaxing atmosphere where people can unwind and enjoy themselves – and that is directly at odds with these messages to be alert and on your guard and not to go anywhere busy.