After three months of lockdown, the time has finally come where we can all gather together again - safely - and enjoy a pint. We may be at least one metre apart, but for many, a socially distanced drink in your local will be the first time some people will have been able to see friends.
The 'next' normal is here and that inevitably includes the most familiar thing of all; going down the pub with your mates.
Carlsberg has launched the Love My Local site, which will allow pubs, bars and restaurants to set up a digital ordering platform that can help them reopen safely. Drinks ordering is taken care of remotely without you needing to leave your table. On top of that, local businesses can also use Love My Local to set up fundraisers, rejig their menus, improve their social media presence and even set up home delivery services.
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From a punters' perspective, the platform lets you order and pay directly from the site and allows for table service, so staff can work safely and keep you topped up. The table reservation feature means that you can book a table ahead of time and ensure that safety-conscious landlords can keep on top of the number of people in the pub.
Love My Local is all about empowering pubs, bars and restaurants to open their doors, knowing that they can provide the same great service as before - and, in fact, offer great extra services such as table service and reservations.
As excited as some of us are about pubs being open again, what we crave is the chance to spend time socialising and having a laugh with our mates, in that little pub cocoon where time flies by and the craic flows. With Love My Local, that banter bubble can continue without disturbance, as it allows drinks to be ordered without anyone having to get up - though we're sure that there'll still be in depth discussions about whose round it is...
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I mean, we all know that there's nothing like a pint served in a pub, an improved Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, in the proper chalice glass, poured from draft - and now is a better time than ever to enjoy your beer in a pub: bars, restaurants and locals have been among some of the hardest hit businesses during the pandemic, and life without them is beyond weird, it's unthinkable. Pubs are more than just businesses, they're community centres and social hubs. It's where friends and families gather and memories are made and it also means we're supporting local businesses that help keep our communities together.
Life without the pub has been difficult for plenty of people, not just because of the actual chance to have a drink with friends, but because of the atmosphere, friendliness and sense of togetherness that comes from a real pub, with real people and real conversations. No Zoom meeting, however fun, can beat a night down the local with your mates.
Sure, we've loved the family quiz nights at our laptops and phones, but there's no hiding the fact that we've missed our regular pub quiz with crap jokes, hilarious team names and a music round that inevitably goes wrong.
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Here's to having pubs open again, and here's to Carlsberg's Love My Local for helping us do it all a little bit more safely. To find out if your local pub, bar or restaurant is participating, go to lovemylocal.com, enter your postcode and see if they are signed up to the platform. If they're not, then make sure you tell them about it, because it costs them nothing to sign up and helps to keep everyone safe.
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