For years now pubs have been the epicenter of every community but recently they have taken a hit due to the ongoing global pandemic. We spoke to Nikki from the Red Lion of Chinnor to get the inside scoop. When questioned on what affect the pandemic had on the community there was a resounding feeling of a loss of social togetherness within the town. Although they were happy to reopen Nikki felt that the new rules implemented created problems when it came to serving and facilitating customers. In such a tight knit community it was good to see familiar faces and get back into the swing of things however she admitted that it would take many months to get back on track and that the lack of space to seat customers resulted in a significant reduction of income.
Despite the stigma of pubs being labelled ‘high risk’ during lockdown Nikki felt as though pubs were ‘never high risk’ and that the precautions that they had put in place created a safe environment for the staff and customers and that the generalization of pubs loose restrictions had had an impact on the decision to delay reopening. Nikki concluded by saying that regardless of the negative aspects of navigating through this challenging time that there were positives to draw from the experience such as the application of technology for table service and being more open minded about planning for the future due to the constant changing climate.
