So, just over month in and it's been strange. Annoying mostly, but strange. My head is starting to spin. Cash only in one pub, card only in another, both accepted in here, table service only, order at the bar, sign in, sign out, sign on, dont bother signing at all, book a time, use sanitizer, dont use sanitizer, sticky hands cos of sanitizer, walk in if u like, sit outside only, sit inside, stay 2 metres apart, social distancing? Who gives a fuck?, stand next to that tramp, stand there only, sit there only, stand at the bar, 2 only in the bog, 8 only in the bog, how much?
Last edited by Al Bundy; 10-08-2020 at 18:55.
...and this is why I've only been to three pubs between 4th and 6th July:
The Pineapple x1
The Dartmouth Arms x2
Lady Hamilton x3
Next week I'm going to experiment with the Booked Crawl.
I've made my first visit to a 'proper' pub since 10th March today (I visited a couple of keg-only industrial estate brewery taps last week which didn't really satisfy). I've had to hold off due to a trip to visit family in the Netherlands, which I didn't want track and trace to jeopardise.
I had some reservations about taking my first pint of cask ale, assuming low turnover and the recent hot weather might result in a disappointment, but it turned out well and subsequent pints have also been good - after so long on bottles and cans, it has been a great relief to get back to cask - I feel like I'm discovering it all over again!
I've been asked for contact details in all pubs visited so far, but turnout has been low everywhere, so bookng in advance has not been necessary, which was my main concern. The only real problem I've had is figuring out in advance whether pubs have reopened yet - I was initially going to do a crawl around Horsham today but research suggested around 60% of my intended targets may not be open yet. I've ended up in Reigate instead and haven't seen a closed pub as yet.
Great to be back - hope we can sort out a PuG crawl before the year is out!
To use my local with QR code to order beer from the table has resulted in an additional cost of 1.5% on top of the price of drinks 7p extra on a pint 13p on 2 etc etc. I'm choosing another pub to drink in as I don't agree with being charged extra to put money in their tills when they need us to keep them in business. They don't even open on Monday and Tuesday now to try and take advantage of cheap food August. The receipt numbers between my old local and new local are worlds apart. They really aren't doing themselves any favours with this approach. Whether it's EI lead or their idea of how to be "new normal", bloody hate these shite words/terms in unknown times.