Column: If we lose pubs post-lockdown, we lose part of the fabric of our lives

It’s 8:00pm on Saturday, and the town’s bars all feel subdued.

There’s no great activity at the doors, and the taxi ranks are empty.

Even allowing for the fact most folk now head out much later, it feels worryingly quiet.

From the west end to the east end, that ‘night on the town’ buzz has been muted.

Lockdown has changed everything.

The Duchess remains closed after its horrendous flooding, and the Tipsy Cow on the corner of Charlotte Street – probably better known to most as Bar Itza or, if you’re even older, the Tropicana – has simply shut. Has it gone completely?

The Penny Farthing, which usually packs them in, has only a handful of punters, while O’Connells, arguably one of the biggest pubs in town, feels equally empty.

The noise which drifts up Charlotte Street tells you folk are outdoors at Society, but it’s just as big a place to fill inside.

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The Exchequer is the most brightly lit of all. Looking in, you can see a decent level of trade, but it’s nowhere near as rammed as it used to be.

The same picture emerges as we pass the Wheatsheaf, where there’s no-one outside having a fag while the sound of all music has been silenced on the orders of our political leaders – don’t get me started – and on to Betty Nicol’s and The Heritage.

Post lockdown, people simply aren’t going out as much. Is it down to a lack of confidence being back in a crowd, or have our habits fundamentally changed for good?

The drift towards going out much later had already hammered our pubs as folk stayed home, fuelled up on cheap supermarket booze and then hit the clubs.

Back in the day, you had to be in the queue before ten o’clock to get into Kitty’s, and the punters snaked all the way back to the petrol station at Wemyssfield.

Clubs have seen that rush edge closer and closer to midnight, so they now look to stay open until 4:00am to maximise their business.

But, where will their custom now come from once they re-open? How on earth can you maintain social distancing on a dance floor?

People have also created their own bars at home, and can party on without so much as a thought for numbers or staying six feet apart.

And, the more who do that, the more we will all face prolonged and often contradictory restrictions … and the longer that happens, the more people choose what to adhere to.

Getting back to normal is crucial for business, and for our own sanity.

My pub crawl days may be long gone – from Smithy’s to Kitty’s to Sunday afternoon live bands at Bar Itza, there were many great sessions – but they’re still places we go to meet friends, and grab some lunch.

If we lose pubs, we lose another piece of our community fabric, and life becomes even more isolated for people who have already lost their daily connection to co-workers, and seen their meet-up groups, classes and go-to places all curtailed or put on hold indefinitely.

Pubs are so much more than just a place for a pint.

The vital pieces of the jigsaw which make up people’s lives and routines are slowly fragmenting.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Fife Free Press.