It has been a long, cold lonely winter in England.
So when the four months of a nationwide closure finally ended, nothing would stop people from enjoying a refreshing pint of beer at dawn on a Monday morning, not even driving. rain, icy temperatures and some quite unseasonal. snowfall.
Pubs began serving the outdoors again as part of a reopening plan that also covers indoor gym sessions, swimming pools, non-essential shops, and beauty salons for those who have been joking about see some sad animals, zoos. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had urged people to “behave responsibly” with their new freedoms, but did not explicitly say they should not get drunk in the snow before breakfast.
A pub in the city of Huddersfield was flooded when it opened at midnight. “We didn’t even know if anyone would come,” pub owner Ian Snowball aptly said. “It’s in Huddersfield, it’s midnight, it’s cold it’s cold, but look, everyone’s come.”
One drinker commented, “It was snowing before, but it would still come out. I just put on my coat.” Another, sitting in a thick jacket next to an icy-looking gin and tonic, made the point: “After 14 months of not going anywhere except funerals, it’s a great place.”
Sky News reported that 50 attendees at the pub headed to the Fox On The Hill pub in south London this morning. The most emotional was perhaps 59-year-old Tony Blake, who came out on the news network: “I’m so happy it’s reopening, it’s amazing, I’m so happy.” Student Sasha Carrington, 19, said she planned to stay there throughout the cold, chilly day, explaining, “We have the layers on, thermal, we’ll be out.”
Pippa Ingram, 51, and Sue Bell, 55, held a fresh seaside pint in Kent, and Ingram described his first sip in detail. “Absolutely delicious,” she said. “It won’t last at all! That’s hitting. ”Back in Huddersfield, at 8:17 a.m., in the time-stamped images, he saw a woman identified only as Sandy who had combs with her friends and told her Good morning Britain: “After a while it’s not so cold when you’re sitting in the sun.”
Looks like a Coventry pub has taken things a little too far. Videos posted online showed more than 100 people lining the street outside the Oak Inn after unveiling their grand plans to open a huge outdoor space with heaters, canopies and blankets. The pub is now under investigation for its “huge number of visitors”.
But for the most part, the grand reopening has been well received as an important milestone, especially after the successful launch of vaccines in Britain, which has many hoping for no further blockade. Nicholas Hair, owner of Kentish Belle in south-east London, told BBC News there was a “sense of celebration” in the country, adding: “I hope this is a kind of rebirth and that we reopen for the foreseeable “.
As for Boris himself, government sources confirmed that the prime minister received an expected haircut on Monday, but his planned trip to the pub has been canceled out of respect for the late Prince Philip.