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This time tomorrow I was supposed to be sat around a pub table with seven old friends. You know the drill. Last drink before Christmas. The pavements outside are bustling with folk heading to a party or a meal. Inside, the fairy lights are twinkling and the whole scene is bathed in a kind of festive warmth that this city somehow does better than anywhere else. People who normally wear the standard ashen-faced look of London disgruntlement are suddenly rosy-cheeked and grinning. The Christmas reunion pint might genuinely be the best pint of all.
Due to half of us getting Covid and the other half not wanting to get Covid, the get-together is no longer happening. We had to cancel. But this is where this stops being about me and my idiot friends, and instead about the people who actually matter. The people who own the pub.
You probably heard, but cancellation rates for the hospitality and entertainment sectors are currently sky-high, meaning thousands (and thousands) of London businesses are looking at massive losses this Christmas. After the last two years, the festive season was meant to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Turns out it was just more tunnel.
I’m not going to lie: I’m concerned.
Right now, Time Out is here to do one thing: support London’s struggling venues. And you better believe they all need our help. Theatres are entering a new, chaotic period. Our beloved restaurants and pubs are under threat again.
Have you had to cancel a booking? Why not find some way to give back to the venues that are going to be hurting this winter? You don’t even need to use your actual brain to work out how to do it: we’ve rounded up the vouchers, schemes and best bits of merch out there.
Things to buy to support London’s restaurants and bars
Things to buy to support London’s theatres, clubs, cinemas and galleries
Then there’s always the hard-working Hospitality Action group. Why not sling them a few quid (or buy their cookbook) too? How you want to get involved is up to you. The important thing is we all chip in and do our bit. Because if we don’t, that lovely twinkly, festive pub might not actually exist for your Christmas drinks in 2022.
Read all of London’s Love Local coverage.
The full list of restaurants and bars that have closed due to Covid.