THREE Carlisle pubs are calling last orders on Christmas Eve as they close their doors for the foreseeable future.

Pub boss Dianne Irving, who runs The Howard Arms, The Milbourne Arms and The Crown Inn, at Stanwix, made the decision with a “heavy heart” but said it will ultimately give them a future once the Covid storm has passed.

In an extremely difficult year in hospitality, she said staff have worked tirelessly to keep the doors open and keep customers safe.

But during that time, capacity has more than halved and Mrs Irving says her businesses would be at risk of collapse if she didn’t take steps to protect them.

Despite investing in PPE, increasing cleaning schedules, offering takeaways and trying to police the ever-changing coronavirus restrictions, the pubs have lost too much money to stay open in the current climate.

“It was a decision we made to protect ourselves in the months coming forward,” said Mrs Irving, 52, managing director of Drouth Ltd. “Tier two is impossible to work in. We can’t cover our costs with the rules that are there at the moment. If we can’t cover them now, we are certainly not going to do it in January and February.

“Hopefully we can weather the storm and emerge at the other end.”

th tier two comes the cost of opening coupled with the uncertainty of any custom and Mrs Irving added that grants don’t begin to cover the costs, even if the business is closed.

“The trade itself at the moment is really unpredictable and this new strain of the virus takes a little chip in people’s confidence to come out and all that has a knock on effect.

“If we close down we know exactly where we are and can project forward,” she said.

With tier two comes the cost of opening coupled with the uncertainty of any custom and Mrs Irving added that grants don’t begin to cover the costs, even if the business is closed.

“The trade itself at the moment is really unpredictable and this new strain of the virus takes a little chip in people’s confidence to come out and all that has a knock on effect.

“If we close down we know exactly where we are and can project forward,” she said.

No jobs have been lost as a result of the closures and staff have been put on furlough, as the Job Retention Scheme has been extended until April 30.

Mrs Irving has thanked her “fantastic” staff who have worked “over and above”.

“All our staff work in pubs because they enjoy it, enjoy being around people and the sociable aspect of it. But it’s very difficult when you’ve got a mask on and people can’t tell if you’re smiling.

“We don’t want to feel like we’re giving up, and we’re not. We’re just going to take a break, batten the hatches a little bit, see where it takes us and preserve the money we’ve got to reopen and be ready to start again,” she said.

It is uncertain when the pubs will welcome back customers, but it’s hoped that with the vaccine rollout this could be sometime in the spring.

“The last thing you want to do is shut a pub, because once you shut it it’s very difficult to get it open again,” she said, “but I think these circumstances are slightly different in that people understand.

“People have been incredibly supportive. The messages we’ve got back from people of support and understanding, for me, meant the world.”

Mrs Irving continued: “It was a very, very difficult decision to make. It’s heartbreaking.

“We are used to having a number of older gentlemen who would come in on an afternoon and have a couple of half pints.

“It’s not about the drink, it was about coming in and seeing a face and talking to someone. That might be the only person they see all day and it’s difficult to be closed, because you know those vulnerable people in our pub community haven’t got that point of contact.”

She added that everything they are about, in terms of providing for the community, has been lost, with children’s parties, senior citizen’s parties and fundraisers called off by Covid.