Burnley pub owner 'cannot survive another lockdown'

Adrian Moore, manager of the Coal Clough pub in Burnley, said he has lost more than £30,000 due to lockdown restrictions and said the industry has faced enough uncertainty in the last few months.

While the Prime Minister has reassured people that no further restrictions will be introduced before December 25, Boris Johnson has been urged to outline his post-Christmas Covid strategy, as a health minister warned there is “uncertainty” around people making New Year’s Eve plans.

After hearing about another potential lockdown on the horizon, Adrian took to his Facebook page to express his frustration.

In the event of another lockdown Adrian said he will refuse to close his pub unless the government’s alleged Christmas party is investigated further.

Adrian Moore, manager of the Coal Clough pub in Burnley

Posting to the pub’s Facebook page, Adrian said: “If the curfew comes into play and we refuse to take part and we end up with a fine, we will only comply if they show proof of Boris and the rest of our so-called ‘leaders’ being fined.

“Until then we will remain open.”

Adrian told the Lancashire Telegraph: “I wrote my Facebook post because the rumours flying around the pub from my customers last night were all surrounding a seemingly approaching lockdown.

“It is just such a worrying time for publicans and many other landlord and landlady friends I know all have similar fears and worries.

“If every pub decided to remain open and stand up to them, I think it would be great news and we would definitely be involved.”

Recently, details emerged of an alleged Downing Street ‘Christmas party’ which is reported to have taken place on 18 December 2020.

It is alleged that officials and advisers made speeches, enjoyed a cheese board, drank together and exchanged secret Santa gifts.

The Prime Minister is not thought to have attended.

Mr Johnson’s spokeswoman Allegra Stratton quit after being filmed joking about it with fellow aides at a mock press conference.

A video obtained by ITV News showed the prime minister's former press secretary joking about reports of a party, saying: "This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced."

The event is at the heart of an investigation being led by senior civil servant Sue Gray which is examining lockdown-breaking parties across Whitehall.

A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime said: “A complaint has been received and is under consideration.”

A party on 18 December would have breached the government's Christmas guidance which stated that work Christmas parties were not allowed "where that is a primarily social activity".

By this time, London had also moved to tier 3 restrictions meaning gatherings of two or more people indoors were banned (with certain exceptions); there was also a ban on organising an indoor gathering of more than 30 people.

Adrian said news of the alleged Christmas party further incited his anger and decision to make the Facebook post.

He said our governing body should be adhering to the rules in place – otherwise it is “pointless” to have them.

He said: “We missed out on the 2020 Christmas period and this is normally an extremely busy period would have been even busier after the shocking year we all had to endure.

“We were unable to open let alone see families, friends and loved ones over the Christmas period.

“All the while it seems the government were ‘business meetings’… could we have had these ‘business meetings’ too?

The Coal Clough pub in Burnley

For Adrian, the rumours of another lockdown brought back memories of the very first one when they were given less than six hours’ notice about the impending lockdown.

He said: “Many pubs, mine included, had cellars full of beer - we alone lost over £4,000 in stock”.

Adrian estimates that his pub has lost more than £30,000 over the course of the pandemic and says it is “heart-breaking” just thinking about that figure.

He said: “When we were finally allowed to open it felt like I had to ‘beg borrow and steal’ just to be in a position to reopen, as the £8,000 restart grant we had been promised had yet to materialised.

“We finally got the money in May after being closed for roughly five or six months.

“A grant of £10,000 and £8,000 over the course of these lockdowns sounds like a lot but in reality is nothing in comparison to our weekly average take of anything from £3,000 to £5,000.

“I honestly cannot see us being able to survive another lockdown if it's dealt with the same way as last time. We are still only barely just recovering.”

Adrian believes Covid is something we need to learn to live with in order to protect local business and pubs.

He said: “I understand many people have lost their lives and loved ones and we should be thankful for our health and families - but people are still dying from flu, old age, cancer and other illnesses that seem to have been put on the back burner for Covid.

“When will we be allowed to just get on with life and learn to deal with this?”

Telling people to stay at home with a cough during the pandemic has led to people with lung cancer being diagnosed too late, according to a report from The UK Lung Cancer Coalition (UKLCC).

It estimates that delays in diagnosis caused by Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions may result in a drop of up to 5.3% in five-year survival in England.

Demand for mental health services for children and young people in the pandemic is also pushing the NHS to “breaking point”, MPs have warned.

The Health and Social Care Committee of MPs said that there is a risk of mental health care “slipping backwards”.

Charities have also warned that older people’s mental health could suffer as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 sweeps across the UK.

Research carried out by The Mental Health Foundation and Independent Age said the coronavirus pandemic has already damaged the health of people over the age of 65, and it may deteriorate even more for many of the UK’s 12.5 million older people.