We have received this message from the publican at the Queen’s Head.
“We are in full lockdown as you know. However, I left the benches out at the front of the pub as a kind of civic amenity. However, this has been terribly abused (a) by people buying cheap alcohol from the local supermarkets and drinking at the front of the pub in groups that were clearly not one household and (b) by people who daubed the benches with graffiti and left large amounts of takeaway litter on the pavement at the front of the pub. All of these activities could bring the pub into disrepute or even endanger it’s license. I have therefore reluctantly decided to put the benches and umbrellas into storage until we re-open and can monitor the activities outside.”
Now you know why the benches have disappeared.