Oulton Broad & Lowestoft Pubs Open

[JennyMorgan]

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/lowestoft-lockdown-easing-pubs-reopening-1-6727829

[MotorBoater]

In my younger days I would call at my local, meet up with friends, put the world to rights, decide who was going to win the league (This would be in August !) and generally just whileaway a few hours a couple of nights a week.

Happy days !

I survived the plasticisation of the pubs, the gastro-pubs and applauded the efforts of CAMRA and others.

I haven't quite yet lost the will to live but this article on what amounts to the death of the long cherished pub traditions in this country is quite devastating.

Good, bad or indifferent is neither here or there, it will not be the same. Is this what we have all been waiting for ?

I have a mental picture of dressing up like a hospital doctor but going to a pub instead.

The comment from a member of the Moss & Co management team says it all:

“There definitely will be plenty of changes and it won’t be the pub as you used to know it.”

Given the choice between paying over the odds to sit at a table (Inside or out, preferably out) on a lawn or deck, looking over my shoulder lest anyone gets too close, shivering at the sound of a cough, applying sanitiser every time I pick up my glass (Or maybe plastic beaker)..............or sitting moored away, in the cockpit or roof, with a bittern booming in the distance (If i'm lucky), geese flying overhead, water lapping at the hul, watching Tom Cobbley et al with glass to hand, I know where I'll be.

I can see no reason for public houses anymore except for those genuinely providing local services like the Ferry at Stokesby with their new shop.

You might think it would be useful to have all the yobs under one roof so as to keep an eye on them, but no-one does.

Maybe it's the time of night but I haven't been this low since all this business started, roll on 10th. July, maybe the Broads breezes will blow the cobwebs away.

But it won't be inside, or outside, a pub.

Keith

[MauriceMynah]

I take your point Keith, but I have an optimistic hunch that over time, there will be an acceptable norm for pubs.

It seems to me that this lockdown has somehow amplified peoples negative side. We're all dooooomed! we are heading into the deepest world recession ever, the virus will never go away, we will all need to shower in bleach to stay sanitised and to cap it all, all the pubs will close.

How about trying,

We are heading for the deepest recession ever, but we'll get through it. the virus will never go away, but most will survive it. one good thing is that more people are washing their hands more often and best of all, the pubs are reopening and will return to near normal as soon as they can.

[Vaughan]

What a thoroughly dismal prospect.

There would be no fun in that for me and there is no way on Earth (wait for the pun) that you would find Susie and I sitting in one of those utterly ridiculous garden pod greenhouse things, looking as though we are waiting to be "beamed up"!

[Hockham Admiral]

I've just read through the EDP article (twice) and it certainly didn't depress me. All the precautions are temporary measures designed for our own safety.

Although we certainly won't be going out this weekend we are planning a visit to the Ford (Larling Angel) next weekend. And yes, with all the afore mentioned restrictions, two friends and our dogs will hope to bask in the sunshine and enjoy a friendly, cheering pint of the Best! (Our beloved Hockham Eagle has decided not to reopen just yet; they have two children, a 2 year old and a 2 month old).

We shall raise a glass to all old pals luckily out on the Broads!

[Vaughan]

10 hours ago, MotorBoater said:

.or sitting moored away, in the cockpit or roof, with a bittern booming in the distance (If i'm lucky), geese flying overhead, water lapping at the hul, watching Tom Cobbley et al with glass to hand, I know where I'll be.

 

There was a bittern booming very close by in the reeds that night on Rockland Broad, with a chorus of 3 cuckoos once the dawn came up.

[webntweb]

11 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/lowestoft-lockdown-easing-pubs-reopening-1-6727829

You would think they would spell the pub's name correctly in the caption under their lead photo.

[NorfolkNog]

12 minutes ago, webntweb said:

You would think they would spell the pub's name correctly in the caption under their lead photo.

Well spotted. Sack the proof reader. Well it is the EDP 

[grendel]

since the next time i was planning a visit to a pub would have been october, i will quite happily stick to my planning

[MauriceMynah]

There was a link in a thread a little while ago that lead to a list of which pubs were opening today. I can't find it. Can anyone lead me back to it please. 

[MotorBoater]

Well another day has dawned and I wish I could say I feel differently but I don't really.

There is however one bright spot on the horizon. I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting any members yet but following MM's urging to "Give it a try" can I please request a demo on showering in bleach to make sure I get it right ?

Only joking !

Money is king, when does a greenhouse become a "Pod" ? A greenhouse is still a greenhouse even sitting outside a "Pub". The pub companies are trying to protect their dividends, not do us any favours.

I'm not saying no-one should frequent these places, just don't kid yourself it is anything like what has gone before. If the virus is always going to be with us then the traditional pub environment, and the associated social norms, is dead.

Picture two or three of you who do know each other being in the same place, having been met at the door, pointed to tables 30 feet apart to maintain your bubble, eyes glued to a smart phone to order. The guys can't meet at the bar and the spouses can't get together for a right royal chinwag. fancy a meal ? Get shown outside to an empty greenhouse, no communication with a friend next door. Nice meal, no ambience.

If that's your thing, fine, I just can't call it a "Pub" as I know it.

If I do ever get to meet any of you it will be on the river, or bank, with an ambience all of it's own.

Vaughan, great picture by the way. 

Keith

[NorfolkNog]

1 hour ago, MotorBoater said:

If I do ever get to meet any of you it will be on the river, or bank, with an ambience all of it's own.

I can see your point of view. 

However I'll still be in the pub (unless it's a Wetherspoons) 

You won't be missing much though (me that is, not the pub) 

[Tempest]

2 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

There was a link in a thread a little while ago that lead to a list of which pubs were opening today. I can't find it. Can anyone lead me back to it please. 

Barnes Brinkscraft created a list 

 

https://barnesbrinkcraft.co.uk/blog/pubs-shops-and-cafes-open-in-the-norfolk-broads-2020/?utm_source=Barnes+Brinkcraft&utm_campaign=75dd2c614b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_11_03_50_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10d1a611e8-75dd2c614b-39275211

[Broads01]

I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to be out and about and hopefully visit a pub at some point but I'm still very anxious at the same time. I'd be more inclined to visit a pub with pods/greenhouses than one without. 

[Lastdraft]

1 hour ago, Broads01 said:

I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to be out and about and hopefully visit a pub at some point but I'm still very anxious at the same time. I'd be more inclined to visit a pub with pods/greenhouses than one without. 

I thought we have been told there is less chance of catching the virus out in the fresh air, why on earth would you want to be cooped up in a greenhouse or pod breathing in stale air ?  expelled air infected or otherwise will stick to the glass as condensation for a period of time, the thought of drinking or worse, eating in such conditions is not for me.

[JennyMorgan]

My wife and I visited our local Africa Alive wildlife park today, and very nice it was too. Quite a few hundred folk out enjoying themselves but their caution was very apparent, young or old. If they exercise the same caution in regard to pubs then I doubt they will be rushing out for a pint, at least not from a pub. On the way home we drove past both the Commodore & the Wolf Inn at Oulton Broad, neither was busy, not by any stroke of the imagination. Perhaps people won't be rushing back to the pubs, at least not just yet.

[NorfolkNog]

14 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Perhaps people won't be rushing back to the pubs, at least not just yet.

I'm not bothering today. Me and Mrs Nog have booked slots in 2 pubs next week. Both, good, well run establishments. I'm going to see how it goes and I fully appreciate the caution folks have expressed on here. 

Having said that I've not really enjoyed drinking at home over the last 3 months and really hoping things will settle down in time. 

[ChrisB]

I had never realised, until this corona crisis, just how much people's lives revolve around alcohol or getting their hair cut.

[NorfolkNog]

6 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

how much people's lives revolve around alcohol 

You should see my hair though 

[Victoryv]

We have to accept the new normal, but fight against it in the longer term, I am more afraid of the new normal than the virus!

[SwanR]

Ah well. I very rarely go to pubs unless I’m going out for a meal. So this has made no difference to me. But there are other places that we go to where having to book has taken the pleasure away of being able to get up, see the sun and make a spur of the moment decision to go somewhere. 

But it does mean that we’ve saved a fair bit of money through the lockdown period. Now I really do need to see if I can get a hairdresser’s appointment sometime soon!!

[JennyMorgan]

I have a live-in hairdresser so that's not been a problem! As far as a pint at home, just haven't felt the need, but then wine consumption has gone up, not least because we can share and enjoy a decent bottle.