We can now go out to the pub – as long as only six of us do it. Emily Bickers reports.
For the last few months, many have braved the cold weather to enjoy a bite to eat or a beverage serving as a sip of normality, but everyone can now enjoy the same feeling without getting soaked.
24-year-old labourer Jack Read says this date has been in his diary for a while: “I have been waiting for this day for what feels like forever, I am so glad we can finally have a pint out of the cold.”
He says: “Going to the pub after work was something me and the boys did on a regular basis, we still did it even when it was freezing but it will be such a touch to be inside now.”
Read says: “The rule of six isn’t exactly ideal because when you want to go on a proper night out there’s normally loads more of us, but it’s better than drinking on your tod at home.”
Pubs and restaurants are one of the last things to re-open, so it’s no surprise those working in these establishments are eager to get back to work.
Hannah Bickers, a waitress, and barmaid at The Bell Inn located in a small village in Thorpe-Le-Soken in Essex welcomes the invitation back to work after being furloughed for all of 2021 so far.
She says: “To be honest because we are one of the last ones to return to work, I was worried that we wouldn’t actually have a job to go back to.”
Bickers says: “When we opened outside there wasn’t really the need or the workload for more than management to return so I was really panicking I can’t lie. But now we are back inside it’s a major relief job-wise but it's also nice to be talking to people again, even if it is all about the bloody pandemic.”
Although Bickers joins the majority of people thrilled to see pub and restaurant doors reopen, there are still some individuals who think this next roadmap phase isn’t the right thing for the current position of the country. For certain people, there is still a reluctance to leave their house unless it’s absolutely essential, even more so for fear of the Indian variant.
Helen Day from Clacton-on-Sea contracted the virus back in January and fears the government is moving too quickly with the roadmap not considering bumps along the way.
Day says: “I think it’s all a bit too fast, there are still a lot of people getting very poorly from this virus, and opening pubs and restaurants for social gatherings isn’t going to help. For a while, they didn’t close the borders to and from India and you only have to look at what they are going through to realise how bad things still are.”
She says: “The government seem to be ignoring the Indian variant and are carrying on with their plans as if nothing’s happening.”
[1]Since the Indian variant was identified, there has been a rise in cases in a number of areas in the UK. There were 488 cases in Bolton, 132 cases in Blackburn, 100 in Bedford, and 72 in Sefton. Although the majority of infections have been confined to people returning from India, the virus is still spreading up and down the country at a faster speed than other variants we have seen so far.
So, while many might be raising a glass in celebration of normality returning, is it possible the Indian variant could disrupt England’s final phase out of lockdown on the 21st of June?