SHE’S one of Southampton’s longest serving landladies and she’s fearful for the future of the pub trade.

Jane Jameson has run The Englishman with husband George for the past 28 years, but has never seen things as bad as they are now as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a huge impact on business.

The couple were at the Bricklayers Arms in Millbrook for eight years prior to their move to The Englishman and have witnessed recessions, licensing changes, supermarkets going to war on pub prices, the emergence of Wetherspoons and a cafe boom.

But nothing has had quite the impact of 2020 with pubs forced to close for months and, now reopened, a 10pm curfew and social distancing rules.

“We’ve seen a lot of things. But we’ve certainly never seen anything like this lockdown,” says Jane. “We’ve still had to pay full rent and it’s been really tough.

“We’ve been very quiet since reopening. I think some people are still too scared to go out and other people are put off by all the restrictions. But there was no benefit to us from Eat Out to Help Out and no tax break.

“There should be more help I think. We had a small grant, but that didn’t cover much.

“I think some businesses fell through the cracks and some businesses got money that they didn’t necessarily need.”

The pub’s regular karaoke sessions remain off bounds and while televised football continues, the capacity is dramatically reduced with the pool table just being used as a tool for social distancing.

But there were definite positives from lockdown. The Jamesons learned how much the pub meant to their regulars, who rallied round to give them a new Saints themed look.

“They were just amazing, we had a couple of builders and a plasterer come in and there was decorating and rewiring and money raised to help us.

“We couldn’t have done it without them. We know there are people in worse situations, so we’ll keep plodding on and hope things improve soon.”

Pictures by Gemma Phillips Photography

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