love* in the time of plague (and by love* i mean brexit* and other dreary matters of uk politics)

just cutting a straw hole in my facemask, i'm sure it's gonna be brill

Apparently bingo halls across the country are planning to re-open in the near future - which doesn't strike me as particularly sensible for long-term customer retention.

one-way systems, reduced capacity, rigid time slots, partition screens, staff in PPE... mmmmmmm pub

No pub or (and this is the one that really hurts) cinema (whenever is that they open) for the summer, I think.

Last time I was in a pub was March 11th, which in London infection level terms might have been more dangerous than it is now, and I don't remember taking an enormous amount of care. Shit started to get real the following day.

Thing is, you don't go to a pub out of an altruistic desire to help a struggling business (or a struggling economy). You don't even go for booze alone really, you go because it's fun, for a bit of community, just to feel among people and talk shit. If pubs can't provide that under the new restrictions then they're in real trouble after the initial novelty has worn off.

I suppose 'getting out of the house' is a huge motivation in its own right at this stage.

Honest question: how many of you guys have a Local that you'd go to without first arranging with friends to meet up there? This is part of the mystique of the British pub to me but after moving here I've never seen it in action (London probably not the best place for it).

I do

lol me, all the time

if there's football on, me

only going to the pub when you can organise a posse sounds like a mare tbh

Fucks sake

'I hope people will be going out'

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds tells @PaulBrandITV she wants people to hit the pubs this weekend in order to 'support local businesses' pic.twitter.com/GovuSObREk

— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) July 3, 2020

I have a couple that I go to if I just want to sit and read with a quiet pint and one or two more where there's a reasonable chance I'll know someone when I go in. None are that attractive a proposition right now tbh.

On the other hand I am absolutely desperate to go a restaurant and even then not before August probably.

oh fuck off Dodds.

my local became the focal point of a clash between some white-van gammon and young crazy hoodlums culminating in one dead gammon (it's not too soon for me to say the guy was an arsehole and won't be missed) via vehicular homicide a few years back. I still used to go in the odd friday if I was killing an hour before the chippy opens, but most frequently drinking alone or playing the bandit or reading a newspaper, there are a few of the regs I'll talk to but mostly I can't stand any of them. There are some quality pubs further out in the sticks though.

In summer is the pub that big a loss when there are parks?

I met a friend in a bar maybe 3 weeks ago just after they opened. Outside table, but really it wasn't any different than meeting in the park for a drink. Park was better really

can't drink outside in glasgow, cb

Yeah a couple of weekends ago my friends & I went to their local bar which was doing off sales, we got a pint and walked like 3 minutes to an open green space and drank in the sun. They were going on about how they couldn’t wait until they could get a table inside and I was like... why

if you don't like pubs other things are probably better. if you like pubs, not so much.

glad we got this sorted.

Parks in the UK don't currently have open toilets, which is a bit of a problem. That might be changing this weekend.

This would be a really good summer for the UK to discover the joys of the German style biergarten.

Calz I'm guessing your pubs out in the sticks are proper dog walking pubs and I miss that kind of vibe immensely.

I like pubs but this is more like, is a nice pint outside with mates better than “”””pub”””

And it is

Not for me it isn't. I'm from Scotland remember.

just desperate stuff really
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/jul/03/uk-coronavirus-live-boris-johnson-warn-public-pubs-reopen-england-saturday?page=with:block-5eff0a668f08ff51fe2ac113#block-5eff0a668f08ff51fe2ac113

yeah i was replying to "In summer is the pub that big a loss when there are parks?" wins really

if pint in a nice outdoor space with mates is an option it's better than the alternatives right now, but it's not an option everywhere for everyone and it's not like default "better"

Temporary outdoor toilets
Stewards will regulate use

so "best" option at the moment is probably "continue lockdown drinking" altho in moods like this maybe "continue lockdown not drinking" is my best idea, the urge to dive into the abyss no matter how grim, in fact partly just for the grim novelty, is real and occasionally fierce tho

making sure you don't do big shites

yeah Matt my sticks pubs are dog friendly and full of Tories, but still a nice way to spend an hour or two!

Last time I was in a pub was March 11th, which in London infection level terms might have been more dangerous than it is now, and I don't remember taking an enormous amount of care. Shit started to get real the following day.

I've been trying to remember when the last time I was in a pub - which was also the last time I had a drink - and I'm pretty sure it was (lol) Friday, March 13th. The fear had already kicked in and hardly anyone from work wanted to go apart from me, an Irishman (obviously) and a couple of other people. Also two Italian sisters I work with were due to come but one of them had to go and meet someone to get a mask - which she got her leg pulled over - and they didn't stay eventually (long story).

The atmosphere was kind of weird even then.

i had a session on the Thursday before they shut down, thank fuck

It’s just another example of short-sightedness, if they had made it clear from the start that any summer reopening would have to be outdoors and started making provisions for that then those options would be there. There’s a lot of outdoor space that could be used, even streets - it’d be safer than asking people to pile into poky little pubs

(Where I went the other week public toilets were open btw)

outdoor furniture would be a lot easier for pubs to buy and install than erecting screens all over the place

beer garden permissions have been getting fast tracked here but apparently the ban on freeform outdoor drinking won't be lifted anytime soon:

As far as I understand it, there is a complex and lengthy process that requires to be followed for a by-law to be changed. This involves a decision by the local authority, a referral to Scottish Ministers and, subject to approval, a further decision by the council to confirm that the by-law should be changed.

in fact I think edinburgh are even thinking about bringing a similar by-law in.

I took a friend from Hudds to one of my sticks pubs, Brewers Pride near Horbury and he couldn't believe there are parts of Dewsbury and the extended Heavy Woollen District universe of grimness that are actually beautifully picturesque and not completely grey and horrible, and a pub where the atmosphere is so genteel and almost posh!

rains to fuck here half the time anyway which makes it mostly academic but would be nice for the 2-3 days a year it's sunny

The last time we were inapub was the day before the lock down. We sat outside for social dist., I went in for drinks, when I came out my wife was surrounded closely by various smokers under the parasol because it was raining.

We had arranged a birthday meet up with friends the next evening, but then Boz announced the shutdown for the end of that evening, and guessed it'd be like the last pissup on earth so sacked it...

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds tells @PaulBrandITV she wants people to hit the pubs this weekend in order to 'support local businesses'

This is very much not what she says, though? She steers it to 'local businesses' immediately and stays there, emphasising staying safe.

I doubt the two pubs I regularly drink in will open - well, one of them definitely not according to the grapesvine - and that's entirely due to space considerations.

Johnson saying he doesn't believe in gestures having done half a single press-up to keep the Mail on Sunday hot for him. Seeing this cunt taking the knee would be more insulting though.

btw keep clapping for the nurses cos they're certainly not getting a pay rise

sorry don't believe in gestures

did david starkey really say "so many damn blacks"

yes but frankly that wasn’t the worst thing he said. he went on to compare slavery with the treatment of roman catholics, who, because they were “emancipated” long ago “don’t go on about it”.

the earlier bit where he said black americans aren't culturally black and wouldn't survive ten seconds back in darkest Africa was possibly a bit racist too

And I'd like to think Starkey apologist Neil Oliver should get a fucking for giving tacit approval by declaring his love for him and for being shit.

classic dorries

😂 pic.twitter.com/F8yMdoPwJf

— Justin Madders MP (@justinmadders) July 2, 2020

Also I noticed Neil Oliver's twitter has three retweets of black conservatives renouncing that silly old "cancel-culture" just to show he isn't racist

That was me retweeting lefty Jews saying Corbz is the biz!