A combo of recent images and filed on Friday May 15, 2020 of pubs that are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Britain's 47,000 or so pubs were told to close their doors on March 20, three days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the full lockdown. The pub holds a special place in British culture, unmatched anywhere else in the world. They are key building blocks of a shared identity and shared connections from the tiniest hamlet in cider country in southwest England, to the more whisky-focused havens in Scotland's Shetland Islands. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - The phone rings and the voice on the other side gets straight to the point: "Fancy a pint?"
The response, equally pointed: "God, yeah."
That brief conversation, or some minor variation of it, is going to take place up and down the U.K. on the day the pubs eventually open their doors again to thirsty regulars.
They've been missed badly during the country's coronavirus lockdown. In fact, the country's pubs, which number around 47,000 according to the British Beer and Pub Association, were told to close their doors on March 20, three days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the full lockdown.
'œWe're taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go the pub and I can understand how people feel about that,'ť he said when announcing their closure.
And again, on Sunday when extending the bulk of the lockdown restrictions further, he referenced the 'œdarkened pubs'ť to relay his understanding of the social impact of the fight against the coronavirus. No change before July it seems.
The industry, which has seen thousands of pubs close over the past couple of decades, faces the prospect of thousands more going under. Many are doing what they can to serve the community, such as The Prince in north London, which is offering freshly pulled beer for takeout to queuing customers in 3.5-pint (2-liter) containers.
That's something, but if it was just about drinking beer, then the living room or the garden would suffice. But it's never quite the same.
The pub, after all, is a public house, a home away from home - for drinkers and non-drinkers alike. It's the go-to arena for friends and family in good times and bad, for first dates and breakups. Or just to while away the hours with nothing much to say or do.
They are host to life's rich pageant.
The pub holds a special place in British culture, unmatched anywhere else in the world. They are key building blocks of a shared identity and shared connections from the tiniest hamlet in cider country in southwest England, such as The Montague Inn in Somerset, to the more whisky-focused havens in Scotland, such as the Stein Inn on the Isle of Skye.
Some, like the Groes Inn in north Wales, go back hundreds of years and are in places shadowy and confined - seemingly conspiratorial discussions in the isolated corners. Others are gleaming and new, wide open expanses, fodder for the sound and fury of a crunch Six Nations rugby international. More like the old sporting terraces that our fathers used to stand on on Saturday afternoons.
And there's everything in between from top-notch dining to the weekly quiz.
They even have an array of names, to solidify the bond, history lessons in themselves. Who ye John Snow? The 19th-century epidemiologist of course. The Duke of this and the Duchess of that - let's do some research. Others are just plain bizarre. Really? The Pyrotechnic's Arms in southeast London or The Bucket of Blood in Cornwall.
They change through the year, comforting in winter as the log fires roar and the real ales are supped. Refreshing in the height of summer as the beer gardens mutate into a kind of mini-festival - especially so now that they are kid-friendly.
It's the closeness of strangers that's perhaps most missed. Opining on this and that. It's where many learn their diplomatic skills - and use them. Sometimes, it can get too much, especially when one too many has been imbibed - a cross word here, or an inappropriate look there, can turn the air blue. Or worse, violent.
Without the pubs, nothing quite works as well and their reopening, even in an era of social distancing will signal the start of a path to normality, more so than perhaps anything else. After months of lockdown duress, communities will need to re-engage, and the pub will undoubtedly be the main vehicle to lift the spirits, for life's rich pageant to make itself heard once again.
Fancy a pint?
God yeah!
___
Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
The Elephant's Head pub stands temporarily closed with boarding put up on the windows and doors due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on the junction of Hawley Crescent and Camden High Street, in Camden Town, north London, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Pubs have been missed badly during the country's coronavirus lockdown. In fact, the country's pubs, which number around 47,000 according to the British Beer and Pub Association, were told to close their doors on March 20, three days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the full lockdown. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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Ye Olde Mitre pub, which was established in 1546 and is now housed in an 18th century building which replaced the original tavern, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Ely Court, in the Holborn district of central London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Churchill Arms pub, which was renamed after Britain's World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Kensington Church Street, in Kensington, London, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Blackfriar pub, which was built in 1875 on the site of a Dominican friary and saved from being demolished for redevelopment by a campaign in the 1960s, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Queen Victoria Street in the Blackfriars area of central London, Thursday, May 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Red Lion, a 19th century Victorian-era gin palace which numbers one of around 550 pubs sharing the most common pub name in Britain, stands temporarily closed during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Duke of York Street in Mayfair, central London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Wells Tavern pub stands temporarily closed for customers to go in due to the coronavirus lockdown, with a sign offering off licence collections, on Christchurch Hill in Hampstead, north London, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Shakespeare's Head pub, which includes a bust of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare that is missing a hand when in World War II a bomb dropped nearby, stands temporarily closed during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Great Marlborough Street, just off Carnaby Street in central London, Wednesday, April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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A combo of recent images and filed on Friday May 15, 2020 of pubs that are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Britain's 47,000 or so pubs were told to close their doors on March 20, three days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the full lockdown. The pub holds a special place in British culture, unmatched anywhere else in the world. They are key building blocks of a shared identity and shared connections from the tiniest hamlet in cider country in southwest England, to the more whisky-focused havens in Scotland's Shetland Islands. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Palm Tree pub, which was rebuilt in 1935 with a neo-Georgian design and today a listed building standing alone and detached when it was previously the corner piece of two rows of terraced housing most of which was destroyed or damaged by aerial bombardment during World World II or removed in subsequent clearances, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Grove Road, in the Mile End area of east London, Tuesday, May 12, 2020.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Hole in the Wall pub, which is housed in railway arches by Waterloo Station, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Mepham Street in central London, Thursday, May 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Eagle pub stands temporarily closed during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown with a sign in its window stating "We'll Be Back!", on Farringdon Road, in the Farringdon area of central London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Lamb pub stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown with children's rainbow paintings displayed in the windows in support of NHS (National Health Service) workers, on Brighton Road, in the Surbiton suburb of south west London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The World's End pub, which is a traditional place name for a boundary or the edge of an urban area, stands temporarily closed with boarded up windows and doors due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Stroud Green Road in the Finsbury Park area of north London, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Coach & Horses pub stands temporarily closed with boarding on the windows and doors due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Wellington Street, in the Covent Garden area of central London, Thursday, May 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Grenadier pub, with a red sentry box outside and thought to have originally been built as an officers' mess for a military barracks that was demolished in the 1800s, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Wilton Row, in the Belgravia district of central London, Monday, May 11, 2020. It is said that the pub is haunted by the ghost of a soldier who was caught cheating at cards and was beaten to death in the early 19th century. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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A combo of recent images and filed on Friday May 15, 2020 of pubs that are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Britain's 47,000 or so pubs were told to close their doors on March 20, three days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the full lockdown. The pub holds a special place in British culture, unmatched anywhere else in the world. They are key building blocks of a shared identity and shared connections from the tiniest hamlet in cider country in southwest England, to the more whisky-focused havens in Scotland's Shetland Islands. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Ten Bells pub, which is located in the east end area where the unidentified serial killer nicknamed Jack the Ripper is thought to have murdered at least five women in 1888 and where for around 12 years in the 1970s and 80s a landlord changed the pub's name to the "The Jack the Ripper", stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on the junction of Fournier Street and Commercial Street in Spitalfields, east London, Monday, April 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Cricketers pub, which has been serving beer since 1770 and faces onto a green where cricket has been played since the 17th century, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on The Green, in the town of Richmond, west London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Richmond pub stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Shepherds Bush Road, in the Hammersmith area of west London, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Holly Bush pub, a listed building with low ceilings, open fires and originally a house dating back to the 1790s, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Holly Mount in Hampstead, north London, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Faltering Fullback, an Irish pub whose name refers to the rugby fullback position, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Perth Road, in Finsbury Park, north London, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Admiral Duncan, a pub popular with people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, where in 1999 three people were killed and at least 70 injured in a nail bomb attack by a right-wing extremist, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Old Compton Street in the Soho district of central London, Wednesday, April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Sherlock Holmes pub, named after the fictional 19th century detective who lived at 221B Baker Street, in London, stands temporarily closed during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Northumberland Street, in Charing Cross, central London, Sunday, May 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Charlotte Despard pub, named after the 1844-born suffragist Charlotte Despard who campaigned for the right for women to vote in elections and lived to be 95, stands temporarily closed with boards put on the windows and door due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Archway Road, in Archway, north London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Walrus & The Carpenter pub, which is named after the poem by Lewis Carroll and recited by the characters Tweedledee and Tweedledum in his book "Through the Looking-Glass" the sequel to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Monument Street, in the Billingsgate area of the City of London, Thursday, May 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Mother Red Cap, an Irish pub with a chalk board message to their customers about the temporary closure due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown and the words "Caed Mile Failte" a traditional Irish Gaelic greeting meaning "A Hundred Thousand Welcomes" stands on Holloway Road in north London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Princess of Wales pub, which was formerly called the Prince of Wales and renamed after the death of Princess Diana in 1997, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Lea Bridge Road, in the Lower Clapton area of east London, Thursday, May 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Hemingford Arms pub, with an electric assisted hire bike with a flat tyre left outside, stands temporarily closed with boards put on the windows and door due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on Hemingford Road in Barnsbury, north London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Mayflower pub, which takes its name from the famed ship that set sail nearby from Rotherhithe, via Southampton and Plymouth in 1620 and carried the Pilgrims to the U.S. at that time known in England as the New World, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Rotherhithe Street, in the former docks area of Rotherhithe in south east London, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The Grafton pub, with a rainbow coloured love heart supporting the work of the NHS (National Health Service) and the words "Stay Safe Stay Strong" displayed in the windows, stands temporarily closed due to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, on the junction of Prince of Wales Road and Grafton Road in Kentish Town, north London, Wednesday, May 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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The John Snow pub stands temporarily closed during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, with a replica of the original water pump, at right, that in 1854 Dr John Snow tracked down as the drinking water source of a cholera outbreak that killed more than 500 people, the first time anyone had identified cholera as a water-borne disease, on Broadwick Street, in the Soho area of central London, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Snow is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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