Endurance - the act of withstanding stress or hardship

Last week, London pub the Endurance was banned from allowing drinkers and smokers outside its premises from 6pm in the evening after losing a case against Westminster Council.

Kitchen Rat hears that the Soho-based pub faces a future of competing against its local rivals without the appeal of outdoor drinking thanks to the complaints of just three residents, with one in particular making an almighty fuss.

The resident in question - who presumably was not forced to live in Soho - mounted a vocal campaign against the pub because of the noise its customers were making outside.

It has emerged that she also complained about the market stall traders of nearby Berwick Street shouting phrases such as "strawberries, £1 a punnet" and "get your bananas here". How terribly inconvenient it is for market folk to try and make a living in the heart of London and not believe that they are in a private, gated, community in Surrey.

The Blue Post pub, on the other side of the road to the Endurance, is yet to receive a complaint and its punters can drink outside to their hearts content. Presumably customers at the Blue Post only speak outside in whispers or are all proficient in sign language. At least they are not trying to drink and sell strawberries at the same time.