Tim Martin gets something right about pubs(but there are more important things to say)
In his latest COVID related rant Wetherspoons Tim Martin has actually got something right for a change.
He noted:
“The typical British pub, contrary to received opinion in academia, is usually a bastion of social distancing.”
Of course those that frequent pubs can think of occasions when they are busy (I’d tend to give those a swerve even in pre-COVID times) just as one can think of being on crowded train journeys for several hours or particularly at this time of year in busy shopping centres.
Generally though people go into pubs for a quiet drink and perhaps a chat with friends, usually seated. Again that wont apply on Friday nights but most of the time it does.
There are however more important things to say about pubs and hospitality at the moment and they are things Tim Martin will never be found saying. I don’t have an issue with the Government’s Plan B as it impacts pubs at the moment but the mood music (sometimes it must be said from the usual temperance quarters, but not always)has seen a significant drop in custom.
That will probably lead to less business at the traditionally busiest time of year and less jobs too. Yet support for pubs and hospitality and furlough are absent. Further for those who do have to isolate sick pay (where available) is still a woeful £96 a week. It’s a pity Keir Starmer didn’t press that point in his TV response to Johnson.
TUC Research Officer Alex Collinson has posted that many in hospitality either will only get standard sick pay or nothing at all if absent.
One can see Scrooge being approving of this but that was in 1843…
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