A pub landlord is counting the cost of being stuck in Leicester’s extended lockdown.
Kevin Shepherdson, who runs the Old Horse, in London Road, just outside the city centre, believes he has missed out on £450,000 in takings since the first lockdown kicked in at the end of March.
The busy pub, with a popular beer garden, has missed out on most of the summer including a huge midsummer Kasabian concert and the annual Caribbean Carnival which were due to take place over the road on the city’s Victoria Park.
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Although non-essential shops have been allowed to open in the city, pubs, restaurants, bars, hotels, cinemas and hairdressers are still stuck in limbo.
Mr Shepherdson said he has just been forced to throw away more than 800 pints of beer – worth almost £3,000 to him – which he had not been allowed to sell.
He had stocked up ready for a planned July 4 reopening – cancelled when the new local Leicester lockdown was imposed on June 30.
It is the second time he has had to throw away his stock.
In March, he poured a similar quantity of beer and cider down the drain as he closed his business at the outset of the pandemic.
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Mr Shepherdson – who has run the city pub for 26 years – said: “This is the new batch of ales which we got in for the July 4 opening and sadly has now gone out of date again, so had to be destroyed.
“It’s 879 pints and at an average of £3.50 a pint is worth £2,975.”
He said the lockdown since March 21 has lost the pub £450,000 worth of takings based on last year’s trading.
Although he’s aware there’s tough times ahead, he remains hopeful about the future.
He said: “It will be a long haul to return anywhere near to our normal trading but everyone is in the same boat I suppose.
“We have a loyal set of customers, a great team of staff and also, Everards our brewery, without whose help and business commitments to us, we would probably be thinking of giving up.”