Beers back on tap tomorrow
Rounds to be ordered in advance... and no music!
BEER gardens across Scotland are set to reopen tomorrow – but going for a post-lockdown pint will prove to be a very different experience.
However, some Scots could not spend another weekend without a visit to the pub – or wait until July 15 for a full reopening – and headed south of the Border, where restrictions have already been relaxed.
When Scotland’s pubs and hotels start serving in outdoor spaces tomorrow after three months of lockdown, rules to minimise the spread of coronavirus will mean drinkers will have to get used to a very different atmosphere.
Music will be banned in case customers who are shouting to be heard spread infection. And with strict rules on mingling, there will be very little opportunity for striking up a conversation by buying a stranger a drink.
Tables will have to be booked in advance, orders will be made using mobile phones and staff will wear masks and gloves.
Some pubs have even imposed time limits to make sure that there is a turnover of customers.
It is the first time since the country went into lockdown in March that bars have been able to offer a sit-down service. Up to 1,000 pubs in Scotland are preparing for the surge of thirsty patrons. But only pubs with outdoor areas for drinkers will be allowed to open.
Councils have received a rush of licensing applications from bars hoping to turn any available outdoor space, including car parks and disused land, into makeshift beer gardens.
In Edinburgh alone there have been eight licences granted for new beer gardens.
Graham Blaikie, owner of the Mercat Grill in Musselburgh, East Lothian, has created a new outdoor area – which has been built to withstand the Scottish elements – by installing huge umbrellas.
He said: ‘I have invested a fair amount in this so it can be used all year. Orders will be placed through an app and drinks will be served on a table nearby by staff who will be wearing visors.
‘Each table has its own sterilisation station and there will be a socially distant queue with a oneway system for the toilet.’
Meanwhile, other pubs are also making the most of their outdoor space in a bid to accommodate their customers.
The Duck Inn, in Aberlady, East Lothian, has now spilled over into its car park.
Owner Malcolm Duck said that the guidance from the Scottish Government has been ‘worse than appalling’, with conflicting information relayed from different bodies. He said the local licensing board had advised that names and addresses needed to be taken to trace people if necessary – but that environmental health officers have said they do not.
In Glasgow, in the former car park of the Rotunda complex on the banks of the Clyde, the city’s ‘biggest beer garden’ will have capacity for 200 customers.
The new outdoor venue, Cranside Kitchen, with a food and drink market – including five restaurants – will open its doors tomorrow at 10am.
There is no standing allowed on the site, everyone has to be seated and food has to be ordered.
Toilet facilities are in the ground floor of the main restaurant building with a one-way system in and out. A spokesman said: ‘Everyone must book in advance and there will be a queuing system which will be two metres apart for people waiting, so it’s done formally and in line with the precautions.
‘Each table will have a dedicated host who will take and deliver orders and will be wearing the appropriate PPE.’
However, Scots poured across the Border yesterday to toast the slightly earlier reopening of pubs down south.
Having seen the five-mile travel restriction removed on Friday, thirsty customers were happy to make the trek from Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh to sample pub hospitality in Berwick-uponTweed, which is located on the English side of the Border.
One six-strong group of work colleagues from Edinburgh headed to the town’s Red Lion, which began serving drinks to thirsty customers at 11am. Landlord Jimmy Hume admitted to being excited at welcoming his customers back to his establishment. He said: ‘It has been a long time coming but, thankfully, we are able to open up now.
‘Most of the regulars have booked tables – and one Scots lad who is down on holiday popped in to see if he could come in for a pint.
‘Under the new restrictions we will be taking all the names of our customers and their addresses, which we must keep for 21 days. We cannot complain about that, especially if it allows us to open up the pub again.’
At Meadow House – described as the first and last pub in England – Stuart Warnock, with his two sons Scott and Derek, as well as their friend Dougie Sharp and his son, Douglas, had travelled 125 miles from Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, for a drink. Cradling his glass, delighted Stuart Warnock said: ‘You just cannot beat the proper taste of a pint in a pub.
‘We spoke last week when Boris Johnson said the pubs could reopen and made our plans then to come down south.
‘When you think we all went into lockdown together it would have been better if all the pubs on both sides of the Border were able to open together.
‘Personally, I think that Nicola Sturgeon is simply trying to score political points by refusing to open the pubs.’
Margaret Staughan, who has been the landlady at the Brewers Arms in Berwick for 15 years, admitted that she was nervous about opening up again.
Ms Staughan said: ‘It is very scary as we are not used to what we now have to do.
‘In time it will be okay but the first few days of being open are going to be strange.
‘I am delighted that many of our Scottish customers made the effort to come here and help us get things started again.’
‘When Boris said pubs could reopen, we made our plans’ ‘Delighted that Scottish customers made effort’