Bar’s electric fence keeps customers apart
Owner: It’s usually switched off, but it is there as a deterrent
A pub in the United Kingdom has a shocking way to enforce social distancing guidelines.
The Star Inn in Cornwall put up an electric fence normally used to restrict livestock near its bar counter to help keep patrons at a safe distance from bartenders.
The pub’s owner, Johnny McFadden, who is also a farmer, decided to install the electric fencing to keep his employees safe, the South West News Service reported.
“Before the fence, people were not following social distancing and were doing as they pleased, but now people take heed to the guidance around social distancing,” McFadden told Cornwall Live.
McFadden told the SWNS that the fence is usually switched off, but could be turned on if things get out of hand.
“It’s just a deterrent, but hopefully the sight of it will help keep people away. That’s how it works with cattle too, animals see it and often don’t want to test it,” Joel
Carne-Mead, who works at the bar, told the news agency.
Pubs in parts of the U.K. have slowly reopened after coronavirus restrictions with new guidelines on how to serve customers safely. According to the BBC, each nation in the U.K. sets its own rules on reopening bars and restaurants.
In the U.K., there have been more than 290,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and almost 45,000 known deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The United States has more than 3.3 million confirmed cases and more than 135,000 known deaths.