TIME FOR ANOTHER RANT

Come Monday, in all of #Castleford town centre, I believe just ONE pub will be allowed to open. Now I have a lot of time for Wetherspoons, including its food (which is, of course, why it will avoid the shutdown) but, nevertheless, this situation stinks.
1/9

It stinks because a rule based on ignorance and prejudice condemns pubs which are just as safe as The Glassblower (and in most cases probably safer, because they’re smaller and easier to supervise) to lock their doors and face... well, who knows what?
2/9

I’m thinking of such as the Market Tap, Junction and Doghouse: pubs whose owners have had the vision to bring something different to Castleford and the guts to defy the tedious stereotype that all Cas drinkers want is cut-price Carlsberg and karaoke.
3/9

The big bar chains, slaves to average income statistics for a place they’ve never visited, won’t touch Castleford town centre, so it’s small (and far from wealthy) local independents who’ve taken the initiative – and now they’ve been sh*t on from a great height.
4/9

These aren’t pubs where people go to drink to get drunk. We go to enjoy interesting, imaginative and unusual beers in the same way as we go to a restaurant to enjoy interesting, imaginative and unusual food. Look at it that way and there’s very little difference.
5/9

Trouble is, the political and medical establishment can’t or won’t. Nor do they see the well-enforced distancing, table service and masks unless seated: if that’s safe in a restaurant – or, indeed, in a pub serving food – then it’s safe everywhere.
6/9

Consequently, small business owners face weeks (months?) of uncertainty and anguish while the rest of us shake our heads at the stupidity of rules that force then to pull down the shutters while others carry on trading in virtually identical circumstances.
7/9

So this weekend, with a heavy heart, I’ll enjoy my last pint at places which have done so much to breathe new life into a town centre which for years had been dead after 5pm – and which must now be wondering if that’s what awaits them, too.
8/9

And if you’re expecting this rant to end, as mine usually do, with a throwaway line then stop reading now. I’m too angry for that this time.
Shame on those who made these rules – and shame on those who unquestioningly enforce them.
9/9