Why I’m all in favour of proper pubs barring Labour MPs - Sarah Todd
While Downing Street ploughs ahead with insisting it is a government that backs the hospitality sector it’s been a joy to see growing numbers banning Labour MPs.
At the time of going to press, more than 250 pubs, restaurants and hotels had signed up to the movement to bar the red Members of Parliament from their premises in protest at tax rates.
As he is brilliant at, one relatively recent pub landlord - television presenter turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson - put the icing on the cake of the campaign with an announcement that his hostelry, The Farmer’s Dog, was joining in. He went one step further, making a sole exception for Penrith and Solway MP Markus Campbell-Savours, the only member of his party to dare vote against Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s family farm tax.
Industry body UKHospitality disputes the government's protestations that it supports the pub and restaurant trade, with figures from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) showing pubs closing at the rate of one per day.
This reporter will be making a point, over the festive season, of only stepping over the threshold of any watering or feeding hole that is proudly displaying the sign saying that Labour MPs are barred.
As an aside, running a pub probably ranks next to village shops, as the thing so many of us - the general public - think we could do well.
Lodging in a pub as a student gave an eye-opener as to the work involved. Once last orders had been called, there was all the tidying up and pipes to be cleaned. Then trips to the cash and carry in the morning and football and darts teams to organise, along with quizzes and other events. That was a proper old-fashioned boozer, with overnight guests like yours truly also expecting a cheery smile and cooked breakfast in the morning.
Thinking aloud, those sort of pubs - proper community hubs - are increasingly hard to find. It will be interesting to follow the progress of 18th century The Plough in Fadmoor, near Kirkbymoorside. It closed in 2011 and was registered as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) in 2013, with locals forming the Fadmoor Community Pub Limited and purchasing the building last year. Channel 4 is currently filming a documentary-style series about their efforts, hosted by the comedian Jon Richardson. He has been an outspoken critic of polished pubs, struggling so much to find a local he liked he famously created a pub next door to his house.
Certainly in rural areas, pubs are so often pimped up for the fine dining market yet can be at risk of having about as much heart - let alone a roaring fire (mind you, the Government are after banning them anyway) or a few newspapers on the side - as a lentil shepherd’s pie. Talking with a friend the other day, we rattled off at least half a dozen that were standing room only back in the day but are now permanently closed. Continuing in the same vein, is it people’s desire to communicate with each other that is also to blame? Perhaps everybody is in touch with their friends and neighbours through text messages and social media, without having to pop down the pub for a catch up?
Of course, stepping into real life and right up to the plate was Ahmed al-Ahmed, the brave man who tackled and wrested a gun from a shooter in the weekend’s atrocities at Bondi beach, in Australia. It was a lesson learned - and it’s important to acknowledge it - that instead of the stereotypical alpha male Aussie this writer was expecting to have been the have-a-go hero it was a Muslim fruit shop owner.
The fact he wasn’t some Crocodile Dundee type film character, but an immigrant from Syria, must mean something. Much cleverer people will be able to articulate what exactly; but his example of humanity - doing the right thing - transcends divisions and is surely something to cling on to.
As we move into the time of making New Year resolutions, not being so quick to jump to conclusions must make it onto the list.
Even though trying to be more open minded, those who accuse the BBC of systemic bias are correct. The latest (following of course United States President Donald Trump) to add their voice, are upland farmers.
In fact, the Regional Moorland Groups, which represents upland organisations in England, has just announced its polling shows a complete collapse of trust in the broadcaster across countryside communities.
Buy them a pint - from a proper pub - for keeping rural life and the threat to it in the news.