20th March 2020 by Rachel Wallhouse

We have taken the decision to suspend serving wine ‘By the Glass’ for the weekend. While it is better for us economically to continue serving wine ultimately the bigger picture, trying to prevent spreading the virus and keep our staff and customers safe, is more important and trumps turning a profit.

The Covid-19 virus is highly infectious and spreads easily from person to person. Bringing large groups of people together in a warm confined space to eat and drink does not seem like a responsible thing to do at the moment. Slowing down the spread of this virus to give the fabulous NHS a chance to catch up seems to be the best course of action right now. Doctors and NHS staff are literally on social media pleading with people to stay home and not go out drinking and socialising (please by all means grab a bottle to take home and enjoy it in comfort on the couch in front of the TV!).

This is in no way a reflection on those businesses that are staying open and serving drinks. The Government has failed to make a strong call and shut hospitality businesses (which would allow them to claim loss of earnings from their insurers) however has strongly recommended Social distancing. If serving drinks is how you make a profit then we completely understand staying open until told by the government to close. We are fortunate that as a ‘Hybrid’ business we can stop serving drinks but carry on with our retail side of the business. To that end – if you want to order wine from us you can pop in store, visit us online or call us on 01254 822581 and we can organise free local delivery for orders over £50.

Personally we will not take the risks associated with making some extra ‘profit’ ahead of the health of one of our team at the shop or that of our customers. We MUST put the health of our local community ahead of a glass or two of wine (again you can always buy a bottle from us to take home, please do!).

I have a close friend with a compromised immune system, another with severe asthma, an 84 year old grandmother… we all have friends and family in our social circle like this. Can you imagine if you were responsible for them catching this virus? and the consequences that could entail? I am now not willing to take that risk.

To that end I want to repeat – THE WHALLEY WINE SHOP WILL STAY OPEN TO RETAIL AS NORMAL FROM 10.30AM-10PM 7 DAYS A WEEK HOWEVER WE WILL NOT BE SERVING DRINKS IN THE SHOP.

We still have strict cleaning and preventative measures in place (please see these at the bottom of theblog) for the shop side of the business and are offering a free home delivery service (please click here to find out more information about delivery options).

We really do apologise for any inconvenience caused but can’t stress enough that we feel the best course of action for everyone is to stay home, minimise social contact with others and slow the spread of Covid-19. The best way to prevent catching and spreading the infection is to pretend you already have it.

We hope you understand.
Tom, Jen and all the Whalley Wine Shop Team xx

If you’re visiting us in store, we would like you to know that we are following all the government and medical advice and have new procedures in place to help our customers and staff:
> Please follow the government guide lines on hand washing, wash your hands with soap and water often- do this for at least 20 seconds. Staff will be washing their hands regularly between serving customers.

> Please follow government policy “Catch it, Bin It, Kill It”. There are tissues always available at the till, soap and hot water available in the toilets and hand sanitiser at the till.

>We are cleaning ‘high traffic’ areas much more regularly and making sure door and fridge handles are wiped clean often.

>We will be suppling paper towels in the customer toilets instead of hand towels.

> There will be boxes of tissues on the counter.