The French House pub, 129 years old, has survived two world wars -- but being forced to close during the virus lockdown has threatened its future (AFP / TOLGA AKMEN / MANILA BULLETIN) By Agence France-Presse The French House survived two world wars and global recessions. Charles de Gaulle is said to have frequented it and Dylan Thomas once left his manuscript for "Under Milk Wood" at the bar.   But the 129-year-old pub in Soho, central London, is under threat because of the coronavirus outbreak, and has launched an online appeal for £80,000 ($92,000) to keep it going. "It's horribly awful," landlady Lesley Lewis told AFP. "We had to do that. We didn't have enough reserves to fall back on." Lewis, who has run the pub for 31 years, said she doesn't know if the pub has ever closed before, though it is rumoured to have shut "for a day" after being bombed in World War II. The pub is trying raise the money from "friends, its fans, and its family" as it tries to meet its continuing costs with no takings. 'Ancient, inalienable right' The seven-week national shutdown has had a devastating economic impact in Britain, not least on pubs -- one of the country's most recognisable institutions. Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered all of them to close in late March. They are unlikely to reopen before July at the earliest. "We're taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go the pub," he said gravely. Historians believe it could be the first time since the Great Plague of 1665 -- or possibly ever -- that all British pubs have shut. "In modern times, the only precedent was during the Second World War. Pubs sometimes closed because of shortages of beer," said social historian Paul Jennings. But even during bitter conflict they stayed open as it was seen as "good for morale", he added. The question now is whether all of them will reopen once the lockdown is lifted.