1,229-YEAR-OLD BRITISH PUB CLOSING

An English pub that claims to be the oldest in Britain is closing due to financial problems worsened by the pandemic. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St. Albans, just north of London, has been in business since 793 AD, according to its website. Now it has closed its doors “after a sustained period of extremely challenging trading conditions,” according to landlord Christo Tofalli. He says they have tried everything to keep the pub going, but the past two years of living with the pandemic has been devastating and left the pub struggling to meet its financial obligations. The main structure of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks was built in the 11th century and was originally used as a pigeon house. The pub took its name from the cock fights (* Oh, thank goodness, I thought it might be something else) that were held there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also, Oliver Cromwell reportedly slept one night at the inn during the English Civil War.
* I can’t believe the Cromwell thing isn’t pulling traffic.
* 1,229 years. My favorite bar has pretzels older than that.
* They made it through 7 years of bubonic plague but they’re caving over Covid?
* Have they tried a Pac-Man machine? Trivia Night? Karaoke?
* Why didn’t they pull in that Robert Irvine guy from HGTV’s “Restaurant: Impossible”? He can turn around any restaurant, and solve all of your deep-seeded psychological issues in the process.