Tequila bar registers to become a church so it can stay open

The owner of a Tequila bar in Nottingham has registered for it to be turned into a church so that it can stay open under tier three restrictions.

James Aspell posts his application to turn his Nottingham Tequila bar 400 Rabbits into a church

As reported by the Nottingham Post, James Aspell has registered for his Tequila bar 400 Rabbits in Hurts Yard to become ‘The Church of The Four Hundred Rabbits’. He sent the application request to the registrar general in Nottingham.

Under tier three restrictions, places of worship are allowed to stay open but those who visit them must only do so with members of their household or support bubble.

In order for his cunning plan to work, Aspell will need members of the public to sign up to his congregation via The Church of Four Hundred Rabbits’ website.

Those interested in attending Aspell’s Tequila church can either become “a bunny believer” or “a reverend of the righteous rabbits”. The finer details of what shape the worshipping within the church will take have yet to be ironed out.

“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 two, we couldn’t open,” Aspell told the Nottingham Post.

“We feel like we’ve been targeted unfairly and it seems wrong. Everything from gyms to massage parlours can stay open and even the Christmas markets are happening, so we sent in an application to register as a place of worship.

“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,” he added.

Aspell, who opened 400 Rabbits in 2015, said that the response to his quirky idea has been “overwhelmingly positive”. He is yet to find out whether his application has been successful.