BARS and restaurants in West Cumbria will be left counting the cost of another coronavirus lockdown. On Monday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said pubs were to close their doors again in a bid to stop the new variant of the virus spreading. It’s expected to go on until at least mid-February, with alcohol takeaway sales also now banned. Sue Eccles, manageress of the Trout Hotel, Crown Street, Cockermouth said that more notice could have been given. She added: “I think it is necessary and with things as they are it was expected. “But from our point of view, to announce the closure straight after the new year, when we have bought stock – and in terms of managing bookings – we are all in limbo at the moment in terms of being closed until February or March. It is how far you cancel bookings going forward.”
A bar and restaurant will be bringing festive cheer by delivering free roast dinners to elderly and vulnerable people on Christmas Day. Owner Peter Blake and chef Dave Thompson at Jack’s Surf Bar, on Maryport Road, Allonby, decided to deliver 48 meals with all the trimmings to people in Aspatria, Maryport, Silloth and Allonby. They decided on the kind gesture after announcing the pub was to close on Christmas Day for the first time in decades, because it was announced by the Government earlier this month that the tier two coronavirus restrictions were due to stay in place. Dave will be making the delivering in full fancy dress, complete with sailor suit and buck teeth. Peter Blake, owner said: “This will be the first time that we’ve closed on Christmas Day in 33 years; I previously had a bar in Silloth. “I’ve worked every single year so far. “Dave lives here, he said that he’d do it for nothing, just to help. He’ll be making the deliveryies dressed up as a hero, as