Punters set to order drinks via an app under new Government plans to reopen pubs within WEEKS
DRINKERS are to order all pints remotely via an app, under a new Government plan to reopen pubs within weeks.
A secret blueprint to unshutter the nation’s boozers has been drawn up by ministers in the Business Department, and shared with The Sun.
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It will also allow many of the nation’s restaurants to reopen, in a move that will boost millions of stuck-at-home Brits.
Under the app plan, drinkers will order tipples electronically and then collect them from the bar without having to come into contact with staff or other drinkers.
It is based on an app already in use by pub chain Wetherspoons, that allows anyone with a smart phone to order food and drink to their table.
Tables will also be placed two metres apart to observe the Government’s strict social distancing rule.
But there has been deemed to be no need to erect perspex screens between tables, as some European countries have insisted on, as long as the two metre rule for tables is stuck to.
Screens will be erected at bars to protect staff when customers settle their bills though.
Tight limits on numbers will also be enforced, dictated by how many seats are safely available for drinkers in the pubs.
Customers will only be let in if there is a spare seat for them and the rule must be strictly enforced by security staff, the plan dictates.
Every pub must also have a powerful ventilation system in place to stop coronavirus building up in stale air, meaning either large open windows or installing air conditioning and fans.
In a blow to some landlords with tight margins, the plan also insists on the two metre rule staying in place.
They have pushed for it to be decreased to one metre in line with some EU countries, to allow them to take in more customers.
The Business Department’s blueprint has been discreetly shown to industry chiefs who are now adding their comments.
Despite an original target date set for not before July 4, Boris Johnson has made it clear he wants pubs and restaurants to be reopen by the end of this month.
REOPEN IN TWO STAGES
The PM told senior MPs last week that ministers are “trying to go as fast as we can" to reopen the hospitality industry.
After being briefed about the BEIS plan, he added that he was “much more optimistic than I was” about pubs being able to reopen.
Senior government sources tonight suggested pubs are now likely to reopen in two stages.
Pubs with outdoor beer gardens where Covid-19 transmission is far harder will probably be given the green light first, followed by indoor areas once new methods are proved to work.
But no hard timeline has been set for the plan yet.
The senior source added: “We do want to do this as quickly as we can, but it must be safety first”.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health last night insisted it was vital that ministers kept the two metres rule in pubs
Its Policy and Campaigns Manager Tamara Sandoul dub pubs “very high risk premises for the virus spreading”.
Ms Sandoul added: “People get quite close to each other in pubs, and they are likely to move even closer when they drink a lot.
The Sun Says
WE would put up with a lot to get back to the pub. We’re just not sure we’ll recognise the experience under the Government’s plans for them.
Perspex screens protecting staff who will barely interact with punters anyway. Drinks ordered by app, then wordlessly collected from the bar.
Strict limits on numbers, with the dubious two-metre distancing rigidly observed. Costly new ventilation systems supposedly dispersing the virus.
Hardly a cosy and inviting prospect. But if it keeps our pubs afloat, great. We dearly hope it will last only a few weeks.
The signs are looking up. Oxford Professor Carl Heneghan reckons our death rate will be at “normal” levels next week, with zero Covid deaths by July.
Another eminent professor says there is no evidence a second wave will hit us.
Even a holiday looks a little more likely. EasyJet will fly to 75 per cent of its destinations by August.
Yet half of Britain remains hooked on the lockdown, unwilling to venture out, to narrow the two-metre rule . . . terrified of even the gentlest easing of rules.
And many are better off than before. In April we paid off a record £7.4billion of personal debt and tripled our monthly savings to £16.2billion. That’s thanks to generous furlough payments, mortgage holidays and saved daily expenses.
Far too many think this surreal situation is sustainable. It is not. A huge crash is coming when the bailouts end.
The faster we return to normality, the less horrific its impact will be.
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“That’s why it’s so important two metres is maintained.”
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Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: "We welcome any news that helps pubs to safely reopen from July 4th.
"We are working with the Government on the guidelines to reopen and how pubs can innovate to reopen with the use of technology."
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