; Co-owner of The Fox & Pheasant, Chelsea.

We gathered in large numbers, from different schools, on the street outside The Admiral Cod. We were all underage, as far as I can remember, and most had managed to get served. But the excitement was in the gathering. Cars struggled to get past, and to this day, I’m unsure how the pub managed to keep its licence.

For us, it was the start of the summer holidays, of a close relationship with each other as friends — and with pubs as a whole. Tell me a name, and I’ll have a memory. From The Goat in Boots, The Ifield, The Cadogan, The Shuckburgh, The Man in the Moon, The Black Bull, The Bush in Ovington or the Oyster Catcher in Rock — these are where I met my friends. Not met up with them. Met them, for the first time — and I have kept those friends to this day.

Most of the pubs have gone now. Even if they’ve “only changed their name”, it’s come with a rebranding that has stripped them of their soul, and left one obvious question — is it still a pub?

And the question is relevant for one clear reason. In a pub, you meet people. Strangers, of all ages and walks of life. From the moment you walk in, the eyes turn to see who has just joined. The ebb and flow of people coming and going. Humans touching the lives of other humans. That’s what I love about pubs. Which is why the 

When we bought The Fox & Pheasant in Chelsea three years ago, the one thing that everyone said — and there were a lot that said it — was: “please, don’t change it”. It was a failing business, needing investment and a good clean, but hundreds of people loved it as it was. And in the 18 months that we’ve been open, nothing has been more fun than to walk in and hear the buzz of people, together, having fun, catching up, telling stories.

It was a genuinely sad moment when the coronavirus forced us to close, but we’re using the lockdown as an unexpected opportunity to give it another good clean, and upgrade the bits we didn’t do the first time. And although we expect to be the last industry to open, we’re excited — because we’re the opposite of a 

 — or simply “the George” if you’re in the know — is not your average Hackney pub. There’s no quirky furniture, experimental cocktails or wild overuse of the word “artisanal”. The landlord doesn’t even have a beard. But what Joe Watts lacks in facial hair, he makes up for in good spirit.

“There’s been time to get the painting done,” he laughs from the bar of his locked down pub. “And I can approximate two metres after the time I’ve spent around the place with a tape measure.”

Watts is spending self-isolation preparing the George for its grand reopening. He’s mapped out a plan and, although wary about messing with the pub experience — “a beer in a relaxed, social environment is the draw in the first place” — he knows that things must change.

“That’ll be the strangest part,” he adds, “because nothing’s changed around here in years. We’ve got photos on the walls from the 1980s, and the bar is pretty much the same. The pub has managed to stay true at a time when Hackney is, in some parts, unrecognisable. And there are some people have been locals for 30 or 40 years.”

Like any tavern or taproom, says Watts, the patrons make the pub. “I’m so looking forward to the familiar faces! As a landlord, you see these people more regularly than your family. They know more about my life than my best mate. They’ll annoy and irritate you one day, then make you laugh the next!”

Watts sees his locals as a family. Last week, he even spotted a group of them together in the park, meeting up ahead of the George reopening. “I think this’ll just be another chapter in the history of pubs,” he shrugs. “And we’ll soon return to the chatting, meeting, laughing, joking, kissing, cuddling, dancing and singing that we’ve all enjoyed so much in the past.”

 closed its doors. Owner Rosie Wesemann had spent February watching revenue fall, and was hoping a summer of sport would pull the pub out of the slump of January. “Sports are a big draw,” says Wesemann. “All sorts of sports. We would have seen hundreds in for each Euro game this summer — and we’re also lucky enough to have a big, leafy beer garden.”

But, from garden to keg room, the De Beauvoir establishment is on lockdown. For the first time since Wesemann took ownership in 2006, the pub is quiet — finally doing justice to its tranquil namesake, a small island off the coast of North Norfolk. But life goes on, and so does The Scolt Head. With a small loan from the bank, Wesemann felt confident enough to unfurlough a chef, and launch “Frozen Glory”.

It’s quite a pivot, from selling pints to selling ice cream, but with flavours from pistachio gelato to strawberry sorbet, the takeaway has created a nice little sideline.

“It’s not what I imagined I would be doing at this point,” says Wesemann, “but needs musts. And while I think people are slightly surprised that we’re now selling gelato, they come and buy it alongside the frozen meals and mini kegs we’re also offering. We even started a T-shirt crowdfund after closing, and lots of locals have bought them. I look forward to seeing streams of regulars wearing Scolt Head tees out and about.”

The pub isn’t selling freshly pulled pints through the windows like others — a choice Wesemann made to avoid drawing crowds. But she’s looking forward to pulling one very soon. “And I pray that, in 12 months’ time, customers will be five-deep at the bar, watching the Euros and cheering on their team. But who knows.”

“We’re busy, man,” begins Heath Ball, the landlord and owner up at the 

 in Highgate. “It’s a bit like a military industrial operation over here — milk bottles getting delivered to fill up with beer, beer and wine getting sent out, food orders left, right and centre…”

And that’s before you get to the videos — a viral Instagram series of rosé-themed movie pastiches and surprisingly well-executed cover versions shot in the pub’s sun-dappled front garden (or “open air booze emporium” as they style it).

“We’ve just stuck to what we do best,” says Heath. “We’re a wine and food pub so we’ve focused on that. We’re doing 50 per cent food, 50 per cent drink at the moment, and in reality we’re probably down to about 20 per cent of custom. But we didn’t want to stop. We’re just trying to keep playing to our strengths.”

The pub’s loyal regulars wouldn’t have it any other way. “I think people like us because we’re honest, and we don’t do bullshit. We don’t put crazy margins on wine or beer. It’s just about looking after people — proper old school publican stuff.” says Heath.

“The regulars are supporting us. It’s been nice, which is an odd thing to say during a pandemic — but you see people’s true colours. I think when we all reopen, people are going to go mad for a bit, and they’re going to remember why they loved pubs so much in the first place. But then next year’s going to be nasty, when the credit card bills kick in. That will be the time when we really know how bad this is.”

But there are reasons to be cheerful. “Friends tell me I’m lucky to live above the pub, and I’ll get a moment to pour myself a pint,” says Heath. “And if I want to piss them off, I’ll send a photo! But that’s what it’s all about. It’s a gloomy time, so we’re trying to make it light-hearted,” Heath says. “Let’s have a drink. Let’s have a laugh.”

 is three floors of pure Belgravia bonhomie, and in summer the fun spills out onto the pavement, too. The bar staff have a charming table-side manner, and if you’re just finishing up your pint they’ll swoop in to offer you another one — and why not, you say — until you think warm days and cold lagers will never cease, and you wonder if you’ll ever need to leave the terrace at all.

Now, of course, the fun has paused, and the silence — on a scorcher of a day in mid-May — is deafening. This is what Lauren Webster, general manager at the Cubitt, has missed the most: “Just pouring pints, the happiness of people as they come in, the banter and clatter of the chefs in the kitchen, the chaotic craziness of the pub.”

In Belgravia, the Cubitt has become something of an institution. It attracts the fair weather cheek-kissers of the Chelsea Flower show, for example, but also gangs of seasoned regulars who crowd around its scattered wooden tables like friends at a Parisian salon, only with better beer.

“We’ve had a huge amount of support from the people and the community around us,” Lauren says. “They can’t wait for us to open.” (During our photoshoot, one regular chanced his arm and asked if he could pop in for a quick pint.)

“But it’s been really strange, especially as we approach summer. This should really be the busiest time for us. Our landlords have been very supportive, and we’ve been able to keep all of our staff thanks to the furlough scheme,” Lauren says.

“As soon as we can open, we’ll be ready to go, and we’ll adhere to any guidelines we need to. But we’re just hoping it will be sooner rather than later. Our job is to get everyone together, and make sure they have a good time,” she says. “The energy, the stories. That’s what we miss. And that’s what we need right now more than ever. ”

Let’s play a game of word association. I say “The Selkirk”, you say what? No? Nothing? The pub’s locals, without fail, would say “roast”. A Tooting institution, 

 is renowned for its Sunday lunches, and serves up some of the best in South London. And it’s a dish people have really been missing, says general manager Ben Ashcroft.

“We’ve had regular emails and social posts from people telling us as much,” he says. “We’ve even had a ‘love letter’ to the roasts, which the team enjoyed reading!”

Ashcroft is making sure to share any good news with his team during lockdown. He even admits that, for all the disruption coronavirus has caused, it’s given a lot of hard-working people a chance to rest and relax. But not too much — as The Selkirk has also launched an online click and collect service to “keep the wolves from the door”. And yes, you can order a roast.“It’s been really well received,” says Ashcroft, “and we’ll expand into other avenues, maybe even offering a few takeaway days from our Smoke Pit if the sun keeps shining.”

Peak summer at The Selkirk is peak summer in London.

“It’s usually jumping,” says Ashcroft. “And there’s a real community spirit around the pub. We’ve watched kids grow up here, and have amazing people visit us every day. And the food — we love our food, and our chef cooks with real passion. I think that’s reflected in what we produce — especially our famous Sunday roasts.” There are those roasts again.

But when will we next be able to sit down and enjoy a plateful of The Selkirk’s finest? “It’s really not going to be as simple as just flipping the switch back on,” says Ashcroft. “But I just can’t wait to have the team back together, to see our customers together and to get back to doing what we love. Oh, and the first pint after a hard Sunday shift…”

The Queen told us we’d meet again. But I prefer Toby Milne’s take on things, down at 

 in Chelsea: “We will play darts once more.” They should project that onto the advertising boards over at Piccadilly Circus, as far as I’m concerned — because there’s nothing that inspires more hope and longing in the pub going public than the thwack of dart upon cork, or the slosh of real ale, or the splicing of a packet of crisps.

This is what The Fox and Pheasants — a traditional Chelsea FC boozer that recently received a loving restoration from new-ish owners James Blunt and Sophia Wellesley — is all about.

“We’re 100 per cent a neighbourhood pub, with lots of regulars,” Toby says. “Almost every day when I’m walking the dog someone will come up to me and ask me when we’ll open the doors again. We’re feeling missed and feeling appreciated — but it’s frustrating.”

“At first, I was keen to stay shut for longer, with the idea that we would open up properly when we were allowed to. But it’s now clear that that’s not going to happen soon. The whole experience is going to have to be different. Our pub is incredibly social — and I just can’t see it working in the same old way.”

There will be more of a focus on food, Toby suspects (which is no bad thing: the food is wonderful). “We’ll probably do smaller tables, further apart, with quicker turn-arounds.” Either way, The Fox and Pheasant will survive, thanks to the fierce loyalty of its regulars. But that community spirit only makes the current limbo all the more poignant.

“It would be really sad if people stop shaking hands, kissing and hugging, meeting and celebrating. I hope things get back to normal,” Toby says. “We’re a small team, and a group of mates here. The energy, noise and the faces — that’s what you miss the most.”

 is the oldest public house in Mayfair — there’s been a tavern on this patch since 1738. So it’s unlikely that something as trifling as a global pandemic would finish the place off. Still, these are disquieting times for the independent pub, which sits on a corner spot behind Bond Street station.

“It is tough — there’s no getting around it,” says Dom Jacobs, who co-founded the venture with James Chase of Chase Distillery in 2013. “And not just for us, but for all the British suppliers we work with, too. The big issue we have as a sector is that the government has been very successful in drumming in the ‘Stay at Home’ message,” Dom says. “Everything we do is about being sociable. So there really does need to be a change in attitude.”

Naturally, the pub does its best work with the after-office set — supplying 6pm (or, fine, 1pm) pints to the hedge funders, art gallerists and navy-suited financiers of Mayfair. “But almost all of the offices around here are still shut,” he says.

“We’ve been well supported by Grosvenor Estates, our landlord. I think they were amongst some of the best in the UK with their response. And we’re going to need a lot of support. This is only the honeymoon period of this crisis. The reality of what this all means will only become clear next quarter.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to about the lockdown, however, has said the same thing: that what they’re most looking forward to is that first pint in a pub. I think we’re all valuing pubs more, and seeing how important they are to life in this country,” Dom says.

“The reason we all go into this is industry is because we want to make people happy. Giving them a pint at the end of their working day is a real joy. So pulling that first pint once we reopen will be the most incredible feeling.” Drinking it, I assure him, will be just as sweet.

All interviews were conducted during lockdown, all the pubs featured have now re-opened.

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