Pubs with a garden ‘will be the first to open again’
PUBS WITH beer gardens are likely to be among the first in the hospitality sector to reopen when coronavirus restrictions are eased, the Environment Secretary has confirmed.
George Eustice said there would be no changes until at least July when he expected pubs and restaurants would be able to welcome customers again to outside areas only.
Pubs, restaurants, theatres, clubs and cinemas have been closed for more than two months after the Prime Minister called last orders on March 20.
Coronavirus infection rates are believed to be lower in outside spaces.
Mr Eustice said: “The sectors that are going to have the greatest challenge getting back to work – and I’m sure the Chancellor recognises this – are the hospitality sector and some of those other ticketed venues, in particular cinemas and theatres.
“Restaurants and pubs will also face a challenge getting back into operation. That is why we won’t be loosening the restrictions on them until at least July and even then it is likely that in the case of pubs and restaurants it will begin with beer gardens and outdoor areas only.”
The pub chain Wetherspoon, whose boss Tim Martin has been critical of the lockdown – at one point suggesting his branches could reopen as early as June – has previewed one of its postpandemic pubs.
Staff would take orders from behind a screen. Disposable paper menus would replace laminated ones. Floor stickers would encourage social distancing of two metres.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said more than three-quarters of pubs could reopen if the required distance between patrons was reduced to one metre, as in several European countries and advised by the World Health Organisation.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said such a reduction would also make businesses more viable. “If you have two-metre social distancing that’s the difference between opening at 30 per cent of normal revenues or 60 per cent with one-metre social distancing,” she said.