Two months after the Britons Protection pub in Manchester city centre had to close its doors, the business’s owner, Mark West, doesn’t know when it will reopen, a source of frustration for him and his furloughed staff.
The specialist ale and whisky pub, which has been serving the city’s drinkers including artists and musicians for more than 200 years, is currently “haemorrhaging” money says West, who is using money from his property development business to support the pub.
“I am propping this up and I’ve got friends who are saying, ‘you are absolutely crazy’, but we can’t let these places go”.
The grade II listed building is owned by Heineken’s Star Pubs and Bars chain, but is no longer “tied” to the brewing giant, meaning West is not obliged to buy beer from the owner of the premises, and therefore pays full commercial rent.
West says he is still being charged £5,000 rent per week, and is paying for utilities as he has a live-in manager: “At the moment the site is probably costing me £7,000 a week. We’ve got no help, there is nothing there”.
West has negotiated a rent reduction for his other Manchester pub, the City Arms, which is owned by the beer and pub chain Greene King.
Once pubs and other hospitality venues are permitted to reopen, West isn’t sure if the business can implement social distancing measures and make a profit: “The 2-metre rule just doesn’t work,” he says.
Previously, a busy weekend would have seen between 200-250 customers in the pub and beer garden; West believes new measures would only allow him to accommodate 20% of capacity, while requiring extra staff to provide table service.
“We did an exercise two weeks ago – social distancing, utilising all our space, we would be operating on around 40 people. It doesn’t stack up”.
West says the pub needs 70% of usual customer numbers to visit to break even, and believes a 1m-gap between customers would give his business a better chance.
Along with the future of the Britons Protection – which counts Guy Garvey, the lead singer of the band Elbow, as a regular – West worries for the local microbreweries that supply much of its beer, asking “if the pubs all shut down, as a society, is everyone drinking at home?”
West adds: “This pub is part of the fabric of Manchester. I am a custodian of it and it’s my responsibility to keep the place as it is. I keep saying: not on my watch.”