Brits have been pictured enjoying the weather this weekend after a series of pubs opened their doors for takeaway pints only.
The Prince of Wales, in Kennington, London, has been allowing customers to collect litres of pale ale or lager for the last week. The drinks are poured into makeshift milk cartons and consumed by revellers outside, as the pub remains closed inside.
Images from outside the pub showed happy customers sharing their drinks and chatting in small groups. It is the first time the site has been open since March 21, just two days before lockdown began.
The pub is one of many places to consider ‘softly’ reopening this weekend after lockdown measures began relaxing last Sunday. Pizza restaurant Francessco’s, in Camberwell, also saw a small queue form as eager customers waited to get food for the evening.
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According to the government’s ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown, restaurants, bars and pubs could be open fully by the summer, although it is likely social distancing measures will still have to be adhered to.
In Italy, many eateries have already started installing plexiglass screens between dining tables and across the bar in a bid to limit the spread of infection. There could also be hand sanitiser stations inside the premises, with customers expected to wash their hands before and after eating.
One government advisor previously stated that beer gardens should be allowed to open earlier. Sociologist Professor Robert Dingwall told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If it is a sunny weekend afternoon and the pub has a garden and the landlords are prepared to accept responsibility for not overcrowding that garden, I see no particular reason why it should not reopen.’
Boris Johnson has now allowed people to enjoy as much exercise as they like, and permitted them to sit down outside. He has also urged anyone who ‘cannot work from home’ to begin making their way back to their jobs.
One Tory MP has now said the Prime Minister has plans to resume ‘close to normal’ life by the end of July. However, they also noted that he made it ‘clear’ the relaxing of lockdown restrictions depends on the country ‘meeting the conditions that have been set for tackling the virus’.
Cabinet ministers have repeatedly stated that the UK must meet five conditions before social-distancing measures can be loosened.
These include a sustained drop in the country’s death rate and keeping the reproduction rate of the virus, ‘R’, below one. So-far, more than 34,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the UK.
The MP continued: ‘Most importantly [this] mean bringing down the infection rate – and that can only be achieved if the [country] continues to obey the rules on social distancing to help stop it spreading.’
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