148. At Last. 17 May And We’re Off.

 

Soir Bleu by Edward Hopper (1914). Out to dinner again but with some unease?

Weeks of wet weather and suppressed social activity come to an end. Glum times indeed. In the background there’s a faint whiff of danger as everyone whispers the words, “Indian variant” (not a new recipe for chicken tikka masala). But, no matter what, restaurants reopen to indoor dining today and we can once more stay in hotels and generally feel as though the forces of liberation have moved in.

  And it’s my birthday week. As we can only dine out with five companions for the present I shall not be having my usual jolly dinner at Purnell’s but will be spreading the event over three days to enable all my usual guests to attend which gives us a chance to visit three Birmingham Michelin starred restaurants in three days but in smaller groups. What fun. But first, to Ludlow where last the dog and I were staying at Christmas. 

  Meanwhile, as we head for Shropshire, worrying news of what’s happening in Birmingham, with hospitality venues under assault from the combination of COVID-19 and an incomprehensibly incompetent city council. I have commented before on the Council’s determination to introduce a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) on 1 June which will involve motorists who drive into the city centre paying £12 per day if they choose to bring their vehicles with them when they dine in the city’s cherished restaurants. A fanatical Labour councillor, Waseem Zaffar, best summed up as a ravening, swivel-eyed zealot, has determined that he will push ahead with this within days  of the reopening of the city’s dining establishments which have survived the Coronavirus storm. Those who run hospitality businesses and anyone with more than one brain cell can see clearly that the extra costs of coming to the city centre and the inconvenience and dangers of using Birmingham’s lamentable public transport services are bound to severely affect the number of people prepared to use city centre businesses and will therefore be a further blow to the city centre’s future. But Zaffar and his mates who run the council are determined to run amok regardless of the consequences. It is therefore an important part of the unfolding story of dining out in Birmingham to record these events as they may have a profound effect on the future of many respected businesses.

Zaffar, who may be the man to kill off dining out in Birmingham.

  Restaurateurs are very worried about the possible developing disaster and the potential devastating effects on their businesses which they have worked hard at great personal costs to bring to the very peak of places to dine in England. We have previously mentioned that Opus will never reopen and Purnell’s Bistro and Ginger’s Bar is certainly remaining closed for the present with never ending road works and construction work going on outside it. 

  Glyn Purnell has expressed concerns about the future of city centre restaurants and urged the people of Birmingham to use them or else their future will be threatened. He has stated that he believes that city centre businesses should have “six or eight month’s grace” before the CAZ is introduced. This seems an entirely sensible request but one which Zaffar and his fanatical colleagues are hardly likely to listen to sadly.

  We hope it is not farewell to Ginger’s Bar; I and my fellow Old Blokes have enjoyed many a happy cocktail there prior to lunching or dining at Purnell’s Bistro or moving on to one of the city’s other restaurants. Personally, I’ve been looking forward to a glass of Ginger’s Penicillin and in the absence of a definitive announcement I hold on to my hope that I shall yet again get a shot at that bar.

Welcome back!