BIG BASH CALLED OFF AND INSTEAD ENDS UP COOKING FOR BLACK HORSE'S NEW FOOD-AT-HOME SERVICE AS PUB BATTLES BACK AGAINST VIRUS LOCKDOWN

CORONAVIRUS put paid to Atherstone chef Tracey Stringer's special birthday when lockdown measures forced her into a low-key toast for her 40th.

All the plans for a big bash with friends and family at The Legion went out the window once the current restrictions were in place.

Instead, she ended up chinking glasses in an Owen Street Victory in Europe 75th anniversary celebration following the rerun of Winston Churchill's speech to the nation announcing the end of World War Two in 1945.

Then Covid-19 gatecrashed Tracey's big day for a second time.

Ordinarily, the Black Horse chef would have taken the day off to celebrate her milestone birthday.

But she found herself cooking meals for a new takeaway service the pub is operating while the bar remains closed to the public.

"It was a strange way to celebrate my 40th," she told Nub News. "I just nipped out in my break to be with family in Owen Street

"i'll have to wait until this is all over to have a proper party."

The Black Horse, like many hostelries facing possibly months without bar sales due to Government regulations, are busy providing takeaway delivery meals to Atherstone and beyond.

On Wednesdays and Fridays the pub is offering a gift delivery service for its afternoon teas with individual portions for one.

Each pack will include four-finger sandwiches on a mixture of brown and white bread (typical fillings will be ham, cucumber, tuna mayonnaise, cheese), freshly baked scone with a pot each of strawberry jam and clotted cream, homemade individual Victoria sponge cake, homemade chocolate brownie and homemade fudge square.

On Fridays and Saturdays the meals are delivered between 5.30pm and 8.30pm, and the pub is offering up to a three-course Sunday lunch service between 12 noon and 5pm.

Pre-ordered slots are filling up fast, the pub says. To order call the Black Horse on 01827 711522

The nation will have to wait until Sunday to discover whether lockdown measures will be eased.

Boris Johnson is due to address the nation on the subject.

Pubs are certainly rising to the challenge of probably being the last businesses to reopen from the restrictions.

Nub News revealed Atherstone's King Head pub had done a roaring trade in afternoon tea orders for VE75 Day – it had to stop at 220.