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Pub Opening Rules

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Gromit | 13:48 Wed 01st Jul 2020 | News
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Does anyone have a link to the .gov.uk page with the rules for pubs when they open.

I can find lots of press reports, but they contradict each other.
I want to know if there is a limit of 30 customers in bars and cafes at any one time.

(Sorry if this is in the wrong section,it seemed the most likely to get an answer.
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it's likely that any occupancy limit would be set by the venue's own risk assessment and COVID-secure process. In England, it couldn't really be any different since at no time since the lockdown, in any of the arising regulations or instruments, has there been any mention of social distancing or a distance of 2 metres. (In Scotland, social distancing did for part of the regulations).
There will be no set limit on the number of customers in bars and cafes.

Even without social distancing, pubs like The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds (which claims to be the smallest pub in the country) become 'packed' when their are only about 10 people in there. Conversely, I can think of several Wetherspoon's pubs (in Edinburgh, London's Docklands and Southend-on-Sea, for example) which could each easily accommodate well over 100 people while maintaining social distancing.

Pubs simply have to be 'Covid safe'. How they achieve that will vary greatly between different types of pubs.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/restaurants-offering-takeaway-or-delivery
very few actual rules, a lot of suggestions, the main one seems to be table service only.
https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/pubs-guidelines-rules-reopening-bars-restaurants-when-open-uk-england-coronavirus-lockdown-453453
Apparently none of the pubs in our village are opening on the Big Day if I have been informed right.
I’m all in favour of it, but a Saturday does seem an odd day to do it
my club is opening Monday, seemed odd but up to them. We have the table app ready to rock and roll. Did a simulation Sunday.
While I'm really looking forward to having a pub meal with friends again, we won't be rushing to get in! Don't really like the 'new normal' and will have to wait until it gets more 'normal', even though it may be a while yet.
//While I'm really looking forward to having a pub meal with friends again, we won't be rushing to get in! Don't really like the 'new normal' and will have to wait until it gets more 'normal', even though it may be a while yet.//

Find yourself a Marston's pub. The first (or possibly second) of what hopefully will be a number of pub bosses who are taking a sensible approach:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8465287/Boss-pub-chain-Marstons-declares-war-coronavirus-red-tape.html
Mmmm interesting NJ, must find out what my favourite pub is.
Sadly, it's not Marston's.
Marston's pubs are generally not bad. Most of them try hard to provide a decent service. Have a look at their website to see if there is one near you:

https://www.marstons.co.uk/pubs/

I've got one not too far from me which I've used occasionally. I don't use it too much as it's a bit tricky to get to without driving. However, I'm going to give Mr Findlay's group a bit of my money if he has refused to succombe to some of the ridiculous "guidance" which will throttle the hospitality industry if allowed to be interpreted as gospel. Just for information, this guidance (which should be, essentially, to ask people to keep a reasonable distance apart and keep your cutlery and glasses clean) runs to 43 pages. Here it is:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5eb96e8e86650c278b077616/Keeping-workers-and-customers-safe-during-covid-19-restaurants-pubs-bars-takeaways-230620.pdf

The "30 people" that Gromit mentions is the maximum number that will be allowed to "gather" with each other for a common activity. Clearly a pub full of people (from different families or "bubbles") are not meeting with each other and provided they keep "socially distanced" there is no limit on their numbers other than the number the venue can safely accommodate under covid-19 guidance. If a single party of more than 30 gathered they would be breaking the Covid regulations wherever they went.
glad to see morrisons cafe getting ready to open up screens put between tables and spread out more
With due respect Judge, the virus hasn't gone away, more deaths yesterday. Not that use any of my local pubs, I certainly would not at the moment.
Bradford,Barnsley and Rochdale now have hot spots! I will give pubs and restaurants a wide berth for now.
//With due respect Judge, the virus hasn't gone away,...//

I'm quite aware of that, Tony.

It won't "go away" for a long time yet. The problem is that if the country waits until it does most of its economy will be slaughtered to such a degree that the virus will be the least of its problems.

Currently much of the population is living in a fools' paradise. The weather's nice (well it was); they are getting paid; most of the things paid for by taxes are still working (even if the people themselves are not). They can go to the shops; they can go to the seaside; they can go to the pub from next Saturday. But it's not "safe" for them to go to work. But already huge numbers of jobs are being lost. The government has borrowed more in a month than it planned to in the entire year. The brown stuff is beginning to get near to the air conditioning. Children are not being educated (an absolute scandal) and both the physical and mental wellbeing of the country is under threat. Unless you happen to contract the virus, that is, when you will be well looked after. Suffer from anything else and you've had it, chum.

This cannot go on. The country needs to return to work; children need to return to school, the Exchequer needs to start taking in some serious taxes again or there will be no funds left for anything.
The "guidance" which accompanies the government's attempts to open up the hospitality industry will actually lead to many ventures simply going down the kharzi. Not only will they not be profitable, they will not be able to break even. I appreciate the need for vulnerable groups to take care. It goes without saying. But many people who are not in those groups are hiding behind the curtains. How long do they propose to do that? The virus will be around in earnest for probably a year, maybe longer. I know people, young and old, who are currently refusing to go out. People need to assess the risk to themselves before they take that decision and many have not. The chances of you even encountering a person with the virus are about 1 in 2,000. The chances of them passing it on to you are a great deal less than that. No, we don't need to go to pubs; we don't need to go to restaurants; we don't need to go on holiday. But to suggest people should not do all those things, or at least to do them only if taking totally disproportionate and sometimes downright silly measures is absurd.
Hope Sainsbury's café opens soon.
Marston's pubs tend to be a bit different to many boozers, NJ.

In both the Marston's pubs that (during more normal times) I might find myself in, it's quite unusual to see anyone who has simply gone there to have a drink. Everything is geared towards food service, with family groups (etc) sitting around tables and nobody drinking at the bar. (i.e. although the establishments might trade as 'pubs' they are, in reality, far more like 'restaurants').

The rules/guidelines that might work well in such establishments could possibly be far less effective in pubs where the majority of customers are in groups of, say, 10 or 12 people who're only there to consume alcohol.

A 'horse for courses' approach is needed by publicans (and pub chains), I feel.
>>> Hope Sainsbury's café opens soon

I'm looking forward to when Morrison's café re-opens in Ipswich. There are a couple of staff there who (during 'normal' times) invariably brighten by Friday teatimes with a greeting along the lines of "Look out! Here comes trouble!" and who then fill me in on all the latest gossip ;-)

(The café is already providing takeaway food, so I'm hoping that they'll fully re-open in the near future).

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