Pubs hoping for 1m relaxation

MORE than three-quarters of pubs could reopen if social distancing rules were relaxed to one metre, the boss of a large trade body has said.

But if the two-metre guidance remains, just one-third could reopen their doors and many would face further financial misery and ruin, warned Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).

The struggling hospitality sector was given a flicker of hope after Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked scientists to review the two-metre rule.

Miss McClarkin, whose organisation represents about 20,000 UK pubs and the majority of brewers, told the PA news agency the required distance should be reduced to at least one metre, as in several European countries and advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

She said: “We’re not asking unless it’s safe to do. It is an internationally recognised standard of one metre, used in France, Italy and Denmark, which allows some kind of normality.

“Pubs are currently on a very highly tuned Government life-support machine.

“Once pubs close they are very, very hard to resuscitate.”