Louise

“It was really nervy. We were like, ‘This week is Sheffield Beer Week’. We’d just travelled up to Newcastle, come back with a van full of beer. It’s always been a really good week for us, has Sheffield Beer Week, and customersjust weren’t coming in. So we knew it [the pandemic] was coming and we made the decision to close before we were forcibly closed. We sent every member of staff home with a cask of beer, so everyone got sent home with 72 pints, and we sat on the rest for a month. But a pub is not just a place where you sell alcohol or food. It’s a community. Some people who come in, don’t see anyone else, they don’t speak to anyone else, we’re their world. It’s really tough. We’ve noticed a dramatic change in some of our customers who have been on their own for so long. That first weekend [when we reopened], we had a queue going right round the corner. It was lovely seeing people again.”