Last Sunday evening, of the five pubs in our high street only two were open. Us and Wetherspoon's.
The pub at the far end was closed allegedly because the holding manager had run off with the takings.
The next one was closed because, based on its history, the council have imposed the most onerous conditions on the licence involving mandatory door supervision after seven o'clock and a host of other constraints. The management company has been unable to make it a viable proposition. It is seeking a new lease-holder but the package is so unattractive no one will touch it. So currently it trades midday until seven. And it is empty. In desperate need of a maintenance overhaul and a complete decorative makeover it is a tragedy to see such a beautiful building on that site stagnate.
The other closed pub, nearest me, had a crowd in for the afternoon football but knew it would be quiet in the evening and therefore optimised the opportunity by concentrating on that rather than wasting time in the dead period.
So it was just us and Wetherspoon's.
Two things disturb me about this. The first is the loss of part of the traditional foundation of the British pub. In my earliest days in the licensed trade pubs were allowed to open a maximum of 9 ½ hours a day. In our area, being a cathedral city, licensing was between 10am and 2pm and 6pm until 10.30pm on weekdays in winter, and until 11pm in summertime. It was never a legal requirement but it was considered an obligation to open the hours available or risk the possibility of the licence being revoked. So we knew where we were. We knew pubs would be open, uniformly, throughout the district.
The advent of all-day opening now means pubs can choose when they operate so, as we've seen here on Sunday nights, there is every chance the pub might be closed when you want to visit it. And interestingly we've since seen sports fixtures and television schedules adapted to take advantage of this so that, for example, football is played on Sunday afternoons targetting an audience of mainly single males in their 20s and 30s. This can significantly alter the way a pub trades.
The other thing that concerns me is that pubs, having maximised the opportunity ~ and they have every right to do so ~ when the match ends and the trade becomes less profitable, close the bar and turn out their customers. On a Sunday night it means that single males wishing to continue drinking have a choice of us or Wetherspoon's. It's not trade I wish to encourage.
I am torn between what I believe to be my duty as a licensee to deliver a regular consistent opening policy with the harsh reality that if I do I might end up with a pub full of people I don't want in here.
I want to blame the licensing act, Sky television, all-day drinking, the breakdown in family values and the supermarkets. Pretty much everything. But however I try to understand it, the reality is this is the way things are now. So Sunday night, once a peaceful evening with the old boys, is spent spotting drunks. Unfortunately it is now the night I like least in the pub. Thank goodness I still close at 10.30pm.