Pubs will have to take your name and number
PUBS, restaurants and cafes will have to take contact details for customers when they reopen.
This will be in case they need to be identified as part of the NHS tracing regime to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Announcing the reopening, as social distancing is reduced to a metre, Boris Johnson told MPs: ‘All hospitality indoors will be limited to table service, and our guidance will encourage minimal staff and customer contact.
‘We will ask businesses to help NHS Test and Trace respond to any local outbreaks by collecting contact details from customers, as happens in other countries, and we will work with the sector to make this manageable.’
The Prime Minister did not say exactly which businesses will be required to collect contact details and there was some confusion in Whitehall about how far the policy will go.
Sources suggested it would include eat-in coffee shops and cafes. Official guidelines are expected to be published today.
Many pubs will operate a booking system to control numbers, which is likely to result in supermarket-style queues at the door.
Leading pub chains, including Wetherspoons and Greene King, will encourage customers to use phone apps to order and pay.
Many bars will be fitted with Perspex screens, hand sanitiser and floor stickers indicating a one-way system. Tables will be spaced at least one metre apart.
There will be more regular cleaning – possibly every 15 minutes – of toilets, tables, door handles and public areas.
In some chains, staff will undergo temperature checks and fill in health questionnaires before each shift. Some will have the option to wear masks, gloves and eye protection. And when serving drinks, they will handle only the bottom of the glass.
The British Beer and Pubs Association said reducing social distancing will enable 28,000 pubs – three in four – to reopen, saving thousands of jobs, but chief executive Emma McClarkin warned: ‘We do have significant concerns over the collection and storage of personal customer data when visiting the pub.’
UK Hospitality, which speaks for restaurants, coffee shops, hotels and the wider industry, said businesses will find it difficult to set up a secure system to handle customers’ contact details.