Man ‘flirts with waitress’ at wife’s birthday, suffers consequences for next year
The owner of a Nottingham tequila bar has applied for his boozer to become a religion to take on the coronavirus restrictions.
For some, drinking is a religion – this is just taking it a step further.
Bar owner James Aspell has registered the 400 Rabbits Tequila and Mezcal Cocktail Bar to become “The Church of the 400 Rabbits” in a bid to get around tough coronavirus restrictions in the UK.
After Tier 3 restrictions forced his venue in Hurts Yard, Nottingham, to stay closed, the landlord decided to take matters into his own hands.
Under Tier 3, places of worship are permitted to stay open, though worshippers must not attend or socialise with anyone outside their household or support bubble while they are there.
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Mr Aspell explained that to become a religion, people need to be signed up to your congregation – and told regulars they can choose to become a “bunny believer” or “a reverend of the righteous rabbits”.
From next week, “The Church of the 400 Rabbits” will launch a new website to sign people up.
The 34-year-old is still working on “how to practice the religion” despite already submitting the application of Certifying a Place of Meeting for Religious Worship under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.
He said: “The intention of this is to be a joke but it comes from a serious place.
“With the new restrictions we’re forced to close and it could be months before we can reopen. We don’t have a food offering so even if we were in Tier 2, we couldn’t open.
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“We feel like we’ve been targeted unfairly, to an extent and it seems wrong. Everything from gyms to massage parlours can stay open and even the Christmas markets are happening – that was the point when I thought, this is ridiculous.
“So we have sent in an application to register as a place of worship.”
The application has been submitted to the Registrar General in Nottingham for consideration, although Mr Aspell admits he has “no idea” how long it may take to go through.
The bar celebrated its fifth birthday in lockdown this year, as the majority of the hospitality sector was forced to close due to tough coronavirus measures.
Lockdowns and restrictions have hit the sector hard, with UK Hospitality announcing 660,000 jobs had been lost so far this year.
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Despite the humorous hint to the application, Mr Aspell said it “points out the hypocrisy” of the rules.
“This time of year it’s usually all guns blazing but instead I’m sat at home putting my Christmas decorations up.
“We have no intention of opening unless the application is granted or when restrictions are lifted.
“If we were to open, we’d follow government guidelines, and I don’t think we’d be selling alcohol. We might be able to adapt in a different way and have some fun with it.”
“We’re not doing this to offend anybody or break any rules.”
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The bar took to Facebook to call on customers to join the congregation.
“With places of worship allowed to open in all tiers we thought let’s start a religion!” the post read.
“Can’t be that hard can it? The Church of the 400 Rabbits launching as soon as we get the green light! Congregation daily til late. Give us this day our daily #mezcal.”
This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced here with permission
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