Why this Hartlepool pub won't be reopening on July 4 when lockdown restrictions ease

Hazel Whitelock, who runs The Fisherman’s Arms, on the Headland, in Hartlepool, calculates that even halving the two-metre social distancing guideline will only permit her to operate at a quarter of the homely bar’s 40-customer capacity.

The new rules will also prevent her from holding the pub’s Sunday quiz night – “how can you have a team of six whispering on a table together?” – with ongoing restrictions preventing it from restarting its regular live music evenings.

She also wonders how she is expected to challenge customers on her own if they start ignoring the new government guidelines from next Saturday.

Hazel, 57, who took over the Southgate pub with partner Glenn Murphy, 62, in 2016, plans instead to reopen in August when drinkers have had an opportunity to get used to the new rules elsewhere.

She said: “Our customers are fabulous, don’t get me wrong, and we are very much a community pub.

“But what are you supposed to do if some people come in who you don’t know and they start huddling and hugging after a few drinks?

“By the time I reopen hopefully people will have got used to what life in a pub has become and the restrictions may have eased again.”

Another potential problem is maintaining “The Fish’s” growing reputation as a real ale pub.

Hazel said: “Once you open a cask it will only last four or five days before it will spoil and I don’t want to be throwing beer away because there are not enough people to drink it.

“So you would have to have offer only one hand-pull ale instead of three or four and that gives our customers less choice.”

The business has been mainly able to survive through a combination of owner Glenn’s job as a health and safety officer and an emergency grant from Hartlepool Borough Council.

Hazel has also thanked customers who have supported the pub’s bottled beer collection and delivery service since the March 23 lockdown.

Further details are available on the pub’s Facebook page.

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