Diane guest, general manager of the broadwater in worthing, sussex
As General Manager of The Broadwater in Worthing, Diane Guest missed having people around her. And then she joined the Jabs Army as a vaccine volunteer...
Here in sunny Worthing Covid-19 just kind of crept up on us. We’d heard a few whispers that a number of people up the coast in Brighton had the virus, but it just didn’t seem like a thing to worry about here. It was mainly business as usual for us.
The Friday night in March 2020 when the Prime Minister announced pubs were closing for the first time was weird. There was a lot of camaraderie between customers and team members because it was a totally unique situation that no one had ever been through before. But privately I was thinking: ‘He hasn’t even given us the weekend to prepare ourselves!’
Once the customers left, we knew exactly what we needed to do because very quickly the Greene King well-oiled machine kicked in. We were told what to do with the beer lines, what to do with the food, what we should say to our team members, what to put (or not put) on social media… and we just went all out to get through the jobs together. But it was a horrible, uncertain and sad feeling. I was mainly worried about my team. One thing you have to be as a general manager is a good actor; you can’t let on if you’re having a bad day or things are getting you down. So, I just put on a brave face.
Missing contact
The first lockdown was tough. I contacted customers who’d normally drop in for our Meet Up Mondays (a social group I started for anyone who needs company). Some are widowed, so I’d call them for a bit of a chat. I busied myself, but felt really down that I couldn’t see my daughter and twin granddaughters. The girls were only three, and all I could do was talk to them over the pub wall because they weren’t in my bubble.
I missed all the occasions that we’d normally celebrate in the pub. On VE Day in May 2020, I sat outside the pub all dressed up in red, white and blue with my flags and everything – but on my own. A few people came by and I chatted from a distance. We’re in a really nice position here, quite close to Tesco with an alleyway down the side and a big frontage, so I’d hear cars pull up and rush out to see who it was so I could have a natter over the wall. We’ve got a really strong WhatsApp group so all the team members stayed in touch on that. We all put a lot of effort into special occasions like birthdays, where we’d go on Zoom to celebrate. And we got dressed up for Halloween, which was funny. I encouraged a few who I knew were struggling with money to apply for the Support Fund, and they got it, which took the pressure off for them. They knew I had their back and they had mine, too.
Vaccine volunteer
Early in 2021, as the vaccine rollout got going, I joined the Jabs Army as a vaccination centre steward. I really enjoyed that because it was good to feel useful again. And it was just fantastic to be able to talk to new people face to face.
In fact, the organisers had me cleaning chairs to start with and spotted that I liked to chat and asked me to be the person who greeted people as they came in for their Covid jab. It got me out, kept me busy and I saw some of my regulars from the pub, which was great, and some people who I hadn’t seen for donkey’s years.
All in all, I didn’t find lockdown three to be too bad. I have one daughter living here with me and the other daughter and grandchildren were in my support bubble then, so I could see them. I lost a stone and half with healthy eating and got my head around all the closing up routines and so it was just all easier to deal with.
I couldn’t wait to get customers back in the pub, though. I’ve lived here for 30-odd years and I’m well known in the area. I used to run my own pub and a sandwich bar – in fact, I’ve lived here for so long that I often see people’s grandchildren coming into the pub. So, it was lovely to call up regulars and tell them when we could welcome them back.
Customers were keen to get back to the pub, too. When I started taking bookings again in April 2021, I had some customers wanting a table for August, which made me feel hopeful. I was even looking forward to welcoming back the ones who wind me up, like the noisy football fans who slosh beer on the ceiling when their team scores and make me worry about my TV screens!