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England left its second national lockdown on December 2 and entered a system of tiered restrictions.

Like most places in the world, the hospitality industry has suffered, with bars and restaurants struggling to stay afloat.

Then there’s 400 Rabbits, in Nottingham, which currently falls into the highest-risk Tier 3 category, mandating that hospitality venues remain closed, other than for delivery and takeaway.

They reckon they’ve found a workaround, which would allow them to stay open.

Per CNN, the bar has been newly christened the Church of 400 Rabbits, and pending a response to their application to Nottingham’s registrar general they plan on becoming a place of worship.

The holy spirit in this case will be housed in their extensive tequila bar.

Their god? The Aztec Centzon Tōtōchtin: a hard-drinking gang of 400 rabbit gods, one of whom is called Mezcal.

The bunnies haven’t had much action on the worship front for a few thousand years, so I’m sure they’re pleased.

The reason this five-year-old establishment is now hoping to mix spirituality with spirits is that it’s spotted a loophole in England’s Covid-19 rules which means that, if you’re a place of worship, then people from the same household or bubble can enter your premises.

Congregants can sign up through their website which states:

Join us as we begin our journey to answer absolutely none of life’s big questions. Such questions as why are we here, what’s the meaning of life, why didn’t they just fly the eagles to mordor and why did dominos stop making the double decadence pizza base?!

Our aim is simple, to offer a place of worship to our deity the Mezcal Bunny.

A place where you can drink mezcal without having to order a carvery dinner alongside it, a place where you aren’t kicked out into the cold heartless night at 10pm, a place where you can get away from the busy gyms, supermarkets, shops, beauty salons, massage parlours, cinemas, theatres, sports venues, xmas markets, schools, universities, betting shops and literally everywhere else that will be allowed to remain open while pubs and bars will remain shut .

You can sign up to become a ‘Bunny Believer’ or become ordained as a ‘Reverend of the Righteous Rabbits’.

They also have a very odd YouTube channel where they make videos of the Mezcal Bunny, among others. This is the most recent one, uploaded in October, which gives you a feel for the bar:

Bar owner James Aspell isn’t convinced that they’ll be successful.

…but says it’s a tongue-in-cheek effort “to shine a light on the ridiculousness of the government’s new tier system and how contradictory the rules are.”

“It’s been really tough,” he says, arguing that: “the government insist on these restrictions” but then “the financial support isn’t there.”

“Even if we moved down into Tier 2 we wouldn’t be able to open without serving a substantial meal.”

He adds that the congregation is “multiplying like rabbits” with worshipers signing up all the way from Kazakhstan to New Zealand.

Even if the application fails, it’s been a good PR exercise for the establishment.

Amezcal!

[source:cnn&400rabbits]