News from The Horseshoes, Silk Willoughby

It is 9 days until we reopen; Saturday 29th August at midday. We also intend to open the restaurant for food on Friday 4th September. We will be serving food only on Fridays and Saturdays in September with a limited menu. We will hopefully extend these days in October and up to Christmas but not Christmas Day.

There is talk that social distancing will end by Christmas and things will get back to normal although normal as we used to know it will be a long time returning, if ever.

The local authorities are now going around inspecting establishments and they have the power to close pubs etc. if they are not satisfied that the government requirements have been put in place.

The Horseshoes will open with social distancing measures, Track & Trace and all the relevant notices etc. We are going to use the restaurant for drinking as well as diners, unless food gets that busy then it will be diners only in the restaurant. We do have to remember the government have the power to order a general lockdown of pubs etc. if their requirements are not being followed which, be of no doubt, they would do.

We hope to start our monthly quizzes before Christmas, possibly November and we may even be able to have our Christmas Carol evening.

Our prime objective is the well being of our customers and staff. We look forward to seeing everyone at some time in the future.

Thankyou and kind regards,

Paul Steer, Landlord

Debbie Adams, Manager

It has been just over a month since our last message. The sad news is COVID-19 is still with us and will be for some time into the future. The good news is the government have announced that pubs can open from Saturday 4th July.

We are staying with our original plan to open on 12th September 2020 at 12 noon, providing there is no spike in the virus (prior to lockdown we had been opening at 11am, this time will be altered to 12 noon).

We have to say it is with a great deal of unease that we open, even in September, given the way sections of the general public have been behaving which could lead to an upsurge in the virus. We will be proceeding with extreme caution; our priority is the well-being of our customers and staff. Hopefully we will not have any problems…

We also have to take into account the future of the Horseshoes site – is it still viable as a public house? Like thousands of other pubs its finances have been decimated by the lockdown so we have to get everything right when we reopen. Another lockdown would not, shall we say, help the situation. We will have a 1 metre social distancing policy in place, plus other required measures. It is possible the government may relax some of the measures required before we reopen which will be fine as long as it does not put everyone’s well-being at risk.

The restaurant will remain closed till 2nd January 2021. We will get our monthly quizzes going as quickly as we possibly can.

Having said all that, we look forward to seeing everyone – customers old and new – when we reopen. In the meantime keep safe and well.

A month has gone by since our last message. The country, the world, is still in this very sad situation caused by the Coronavirus.

As we said in our April message we are trying to gauge the time when we can reopen the pub. The governement has said that pubs can reopen 4th July providing they meet certain criteria. As far as The Horseshoes is concerned this will not happen. 

The very earliest we can see ourselves opening is 11th September and we feel that could well turn out to be optimistic. 

What the governement require for pubs to put in place before they can open is virtually impossible to manage. You have only to look at the 2 metre social distancing rule which will be one of the conditions required. Imagine, a 2 metre social distance in a pub, think about it… and that is only one of the conditions required. We could be looking at December/ January 2021 before we can start pulling pints. This is a possibility.

All we can say at the moment is that we are desperate to open on 11th September or as soon as possible afterwards. 

We look forward to seeing everybody then. In the meantime keep safe and well.

It is now one month since we were ordered to close by central government to help combat the Coronavirus outbreak. We at The Horseshoes express our deepest sympathy to all families who have lost loved ones both in our country and where-ever they may be in the world. In view of everything that is happening it seems empty and callous to even think about when The Horseshoes public house will be able to reopen but along with other establishments we do have to make plans for re-opening, whenever that may be.

It is our hope that we will be given some notice by central government as to when this will happen. We estimate it will take at least 7 days, what with commissioning beer lines, cleaning and restocking, to bring The Horseshoes back to the condition needed so it can reopen.

We very much look forward to seeing everyone again. In the meantime, keep safe and well.