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Almost 2,000 pubs in Ireland have closed since 2005, according to a new report undertaken by Drinks Industry Group of Ireland. The research shows that 108 bars shut in 2022, while there has been a 22.5% closure rate since 2005. The group said rural businesses are most at risk of shutting their doors, while the counties that saw the biggest declines were Limerick (32%), Cork (29.9%), and Laois (29.9%). Dublin saw the lowest rate of decline, at 3.4%. The group is calling on the Government to give more support to regional, small, and family run operations, and is also calling...

Jason Kingsley, the Modern Knight, discusses three very popular medieval institutions, the Inn, the Tavern and the Alehouse. Many people think these are the same, but they're not really. Each had it's own place in medieval society.What's the difference between medieval inns, taverns and alehouses? | 17:44Modern History TV | 758K subscribers | 128,108 views | July 27, 2023

LONDON — Like thousands of pubs across Britain, the Red Lion and Sun fears financial ruin this winter as its energy costs surge, just as business was starting to recover from the fallow years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nestled in a leafy north London suburb, the pub’s annual energy bill is on course to more than quadruple this year to 65,000 pounds ($76,000) from 16,000 pounds, said James Cuthbertson, a director of The Frisco Group, which manages the pub along with two others in the capital and southeast England. “We need to come up with an extra 50,000 pounds in...

Thirsty punters, spendthrift shoppers and jubilant clubbers toasted England’s “freedom day” easing of Covid restrictions on Monday, even as many others saw little to celebrate. The end to limits on social mixing came as a relief to the hospitality, retail and events industries after more than a year of meagre takings The government says a mass vaccination campaign justifies the move, but a resurgence in virus cases has prompted widespread concern among scientists both at home and abroad. Nightclubs had been shut since March 2020, and many reopened at the stroke of midnight. For those filling Bar Fibre in the...

Despite jubilation over the partial reopening of pubs in Britain, the industry has seen a rapid decline over the past year of lockdowns, with some 2,500 pubs shutting down for good in 2020. On Monday, pubs were permitted by the government to open back up, however, only those with outdoor seating were actually allowed to serve their customers. When looking at the country at large, a bleaker portrait of the economic devastation inflicted upon the sector becomes apparent, with some 2,500 pubs closing their doors for the last time during the pandemic. Even with the loosening of restrictions, only 40...

In 2004, Boris Johnson, now the UK’s Prime Minister, famously wrote: “If I am ever asked, on the streets of London, or in any other venue, public or private, to produce my ID card as evidence that I am who I say I am, when I have done nothing wrong and when I am simply ambling along and breathing God’s fresh air like any other freeborn Englishman, then I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it in the presence of whatever emanation of the state has demanded that I produce it. "If I am incapable...

A historic pub in the centre of Oxford that has served students, scholars and literary greats for over 450 years is to close. The Lamb and Flag, once frequented by the likes of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien and his friend C.S. Lewis, who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, has suffered a disastrous loss of revenues since the start of the pandemic. It first opened in 1566 and moved to its present location on St Giles, a broad thoroughfare in the city centre, in 1613. It is owned by St John’s College, one of 45 colleges and private...

A common trick of the MSM used to be to ask one Republican if they would "denounce" what another Republican said, dishonestly representing what was actually said. Dim-witted virtue-signalling Republican clods would always take the bait, and bloviate some pompous comment that would become the news story. This is exactly what they are doing with the "failure to denounce white supremists" lie

LONDON - Lockdown restrictions were eased, the pubs opened and crowds flocked onto the streets of English cities Saturday, many ignoring social distancing rules and prompting complaints from the police. A number of arrests were made. John Apter, chair of the Police Federation for England and Wales, warned that it “crystal clear” that drunk people cannot social distance. Apter, who was on patrol in Southampton, a city on England’s south coast, wrote on Twitter that officers dealt with, “anti-social behavior, naked men, possession of class ‘A’ drugs, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights, more angry drunks.” Elsewhere, in Brentwood, a small...

The possibility that pubs may not reopen until a vaccine for Covid-19 has been found has been described as a “nightmare scenario” by the body that represents Dublin publicans. The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) said many pubs will be put out of business permanently if such a lengthy closure occurs. It was commenting after Heineken Ireland put its staff on a four-day week for two months due to the falloff in demand for its beer products since the lockdown began. […] Minister for Health Simon Harris said at the weekend he could not see how people could return to “packed...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told cafes, pubs, restaurants, gyms and cinemas across the country to close and stay shut indefinitely to help slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. "We are telling cafes, bars and restaurants to close tonight as soon as they reasonably can and not to open tomorrow," Mr Johnson told reporters in Downing Street. "I do accept that what we're doing is extraordinary. We're taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, and I can understand how people feel about that. "Though to be clear,...

Democrats hold a 15 percentage point lead over Republicans in a generic House ballot, according to a new Quinnipiac University Poll released Tuesday. A majority of those polled, 53 percent, said they would like Democrats to win control of the House in this year's midterm election. Thirty-eight percent said they would like the GOP to keep control of the lower chamber, while nine percent said they did not know or did not provide an answer. The 53 percent is up from the 49 percent who said earlier this month they would like the Democrats to take control of the House....

Senators went into a recess skeptical over whether they could agree to legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare. They will return on Monday more doubtful than ever. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) most loyal allies, said Thursday that it’s “unlikely” the GOP will get a healthcare deal. “I don’t see a comprehensive healthcare plan this year,” he told a local news station. Senate Republicans hoped to have a draft bill this week, but it now looks like there will at best be an outline.

“We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?” Sami Osmakac, a 25-year-old immigrant who plotted a suicide terror attack in Tampa,told a confidential informant. When the informer tried once more to dissuade him from his plans, by asking whether he wanted to get married and have children, Osmakac replied that he would build his family in Paradise. Osmakac was arrested Saturday night, after receiving nonfunctioning guns and explosives from the FBI and making a martyrdom video. Although he initially planned to blow up a car bomb outside of Tampa’s nightlife district of Ybor City, he altered...

First exploded a car at the busy shopping street Drottninggatan in central Stockholm. Then came another explosion some distance away and one man died. According to news agency TT, the man had blown himself to death. There was a bag on the ground filled with nails, according to newspaper Expressen. Alarm calls poured in to the Emergency Services from concerned residents about the explosions in central Stockholm on Saturday afternoon. But the initial info from the police was extremely unclear. First there was talk of two cars that exploded, later it proved to be just one... At Bryggargatan a man...

So I doubt that, if I had lived in Bolton, I would have gone within a quarter mile of “The Flying Shuttle”, described by the Daily Mail as probably the “toughest pub” in Britain. It appeared to be open all the time, in defiance of the licensing laws, not because the landlord held an open house but simply because the bar staff were too frightened to call time. In the end it took thirteen police officers to close it down and even then there was a mini riot.

This year's election will be exciting. Given the disenchantment of voters with President Obama and the Democratic Congress, there is every prospect that your Democratic representative will be shown the door. Given the generally anti-incumbent mood, there is every prospect that your Republican representative will be out on the street. In your dreams. When analysts say this is going to be a competitive election, they don't mention that for most districts and most voters, absolutely nothing is going to change. Come January, the U.S. House of Representatives is going to look a lot like it does right now. There are...

Which party do you feel will do a better job handling the nation's main problems over the next few years? Democrats Republicans Neither

New pubs enough to drive you to drink? The Write Factor: Ed Hart asks whether it’s really good news that J D Wetherspoons are planning to open 250 new establishments across Britain. 02 December 2009 13:17 PM Comment (1) 141494 When it’s announced that 250 pubs are to open it might be considered a cause for celebration, particularly as Britain’s pubs have been closing at a rate of 50 a week. But who needs 250 more J D Wetherspoons? Aren’t they dreary barns full of lonely old men taking a break from the bookies, female office workers on a night...

Poll: If Jesus were on earth today in bodily form, would he frequent bars and pubs to befriend "sinners"? A Daily Poll