The owners of a Kendal inn say they are determined to do all they can to protect the jobs of staff and ensure it can re-open once it is safe to do so.
Just two months ago Ye Olde Fleece Inn at Kendal was celebrating its first anniversary since re-opening, following a renovation project costing nearly one million pounds.
Now the pub and its restaurant are empty, waiting for the lockdown restrictions issued due to the coronavirus pandemic to be lifted.
Joint director Josh Macauley described how he learned the devastating news on Friday, March 20, that all pubs in the UK had been ordered by the Government to close their doors.
“We were not given any notice at all. There had been rumours going around but it was all still speculation. Then, mid-shift, one of the staff came and told me they had seen the news and the message was that pubs must be closed by midnight but actually should close as soon as possible,” said Mr Macaulay.
“We still had a pub full of people. Some were eating and some were wating for the food they had ordered to be brought to their tables.
“Staff had a flurry of questions. I took a short time to collect my thoughts and then gathered the staff together. We called ‘last orders’ and told everyone in the pub that they would need to leave. Once they had done so we put a closed sign on the door.”
Mr Macauley, who owns Ye Olde Fleece Inn with Chris Moss, described how morale among the 35 staff had taken an understandable dive. “At that stage we did not know how long this would last and they were asking what would happen to their jobs and income.
“We did not know then about the furloughing scheme or about Government grants. I took the decision and told them ‘no-one is losing their jobs and everyone will stay on 100 per cent of their income’.
“Our view was that you are not just looking after the pub building but also staff’s livelihoods. Our message to staff was we shall look after you, don’t worry, we shall do everything we can to protect your jobs and we shall re-open.”
Since then all staff have been furloughed with Josh and Chris paying the extra 20 per cent of wages out of their personal savings.
Mr Macauley described some of the impact of the closure. “It is a very expensive building to run. We still have utility bills and need to keep the cooling system going in the cellar
“On the day we closed we wasted around 700 pints of ale. Once the casks are open, they only last three or four days before the ale goes off. We also had to open a lot of kegs in the cellar because the ale will continue to ferment and, potentially, they could explode.”
There was also several thousands of pounds’ worth of perishable food in the pub, including steaks, fish, bread, eggs and milk. “We donated as much as we could to people but a lot of it had to go,” he said.
Practical jobs since then had included emptying, cleaning and filling ale dispensing pipes with air to stop them corroding; dismantling and cleaning kitchen equipment; deep cleansing the building; and catching up on DIY jobs including painting. It is also hoped to refit the bar during the closure.
Mr Macauley said they had received many messages of support from customers and other pubs in the area.
They had also tried to keep in touch with customers, particularly those elderly regulars for whom a visit to the Fleece represented some of the only human contact they had during the week.
He believed pubs would need at least two weeks’ notice of re-opening to restock their cellars.
Deciding when pubs could re-open would be a difficult balance, he said. “We all understand that staying in is helping us through the coronavirus pandemic but pubs can only survive closed for a certain amount of time before the money runs out or it becomes not viable to re-open.
“If this goes on for months the whole industry will be in difficulty and what we come back to will not look like what we left. I urge people to follow the Government guidance but we do need to see an end to this and, hopefully, sooner rather than later.”
