Instead of a newsletter for July 2026… Notes from a heatwave

As you might have noticed, there’s been another heatwave in the UK, and we’ve noticed signs of drinkers and pubs adapting to this new reality. At The King’s Head the other week we found ourselves sitting next to a group of rather elegant older ladies all cooling themselves with patterned folding fans. Between that and the humidity we were almost able to convince ourselves we were at some colonial outpost in the 1920s. Most of the pubs we’ve visited recently have electric fans directed towards the bar staff. At one pub, the barman saw how hot and bothered one pair of customers were on arrival and spun his fan around to face them while he pulled their pints. At another pub, where an enormous industrial fan was roaring away like the propellor on a Battle of Britain fighter, we asked the barperson if it helped much: “No, it’s fucking useless. It makes it worse, if anything. It just blows hot air at me. All that’s keeping me going in this weather is pure hatred and rage.” At Lost &…