Pub Rebrands As 'Two Helmets' Following Government's Latest Lockdown Lifting Delay

A pub has rebranded itself as 'The Two Helmets' after the government pushed back the planned lifting of lockdown measures.

The James Atherton, in New Brighton, Merseyside, was renamed 'The Three B***ends' last October, when it was announced that the region would be placed in the 'very high' bracket of the three-tier system (remember that mess?).

Now the pub has taken a further swipe at the government; this time around, with Dominic Cummings out of the picture, the 'three b***ends' have been reduced to 'two helmets' - Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock.

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The new moniker has just been freshly emblazoned all over the pub in signage which depicts the prime minister and the health secretary in hard hats.

"After yesterday's train wreck of an update, we decided that we're gonna do it again," Dan Davies, chief executive of pub owners Rockpoint Leisure, told LADbible.

"Because yet again, we've had to cancel dos that are on here, particular nights that we're doing. And you know, the wedding industry is decimated, the nightclub sector's decimated, you've got festivals - they're decimated.

"People have laid out a lot of money. People have made plans - whether it's holidays or festivals - all these sorts of things, every time you buy more stock, you just get kicked in the teeth by this pair of helmets."

The 48-year-old is passionate about the importance of using humour to make light of a serious situation and hold power to account, and clearly the local community shared Dan's view, as the makeover didn't cost him a penny.

He explained: "The designers did it for nothing, the sign-writers have done it for nothing, we had some scaffolding ourselves and then some local builders who were just sat in the pub said, 'Right, we'll help.'

"Everyone's just coming together really, it's cost us nothing to do, but it's just important to really reflect the mood of the people."

Dan Davies

Dan said Johnson had shown a disregard for the north and the hospitality sector, and as such, it wasn't surprising that people were so willing to get behind The Two Helmets rebrand.

"We shouldn't have our freedom of speech shut - we've had just about every other liberty taken away from us over the last 12 months," Dan said.

"We're a public house, like many, we're fighting for the survival of our business.

"They just have such an attitude of, I mean look at the G7, they're all hugging each other and things, getting on the tube, everyone's there.

"The hospitality sector has been singled out."

Topics: UK News, lockdown, Funny, Pubs, Pub, Politics

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey