Good luck if you’re going to the pub today.
According to the Telegraph (Pubs and beer gardens reopen today - and these are the new rules):
There will be strict rules to follow in order to keep customers safe: no bar service will be allowed, customers may need to register if they visit, and establishments will have to offer table service.
In venues where two metre distancing isn't possible, customers may sit one metre apart so long as measures are put into place, such as back-to-back seating, perspex screens and partitions between tables. You'll find disposable menus and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces.
As far smoking is concerned, there are no new rules despite demands by Mark Pritchard MP (opposed by Forest), so that’s good news.
In fact, until this week the only time I saw smoking mentioned by the hospitality industry in relation to pubs reopening was when the trade association Hospitality UK submitted proposals to the government in May.
They included patrols of smoking areas but that was simply to prevent over-crowding, not to stop people smoking.
The most specific instructions for smokers came this week when Wetherspoon, the UK’s largest pub group, issued a nine-point plan for reopening. It included this directive:
No smoking near entrances and exits
Customers won’t be allowed to pop outside for a cigarette during their visit, as staff need to keep pathways and exits clear for others waiting to enter.
Instead, customers will need to either step away from pub doorways for a smoke, or go to the designated smoking area in the pub garden, if there is one.
Signs reminding customers to observe social distancing will be in place in the smoking area.
To the best of my knowledge however government guidelines don’t mention smoking at all, which is a victory of sorts.
Individual pubs can still apply their own policies but why alienate returning customers with unnecessary rules when you’ve got so much else on your plate?
It’s my guess that most people going to the pub over the next few weeks won’t be the sort of person who worries about being exposed to a wisp of tobacco smoke - as David Hockney famously said, “Pubs aren’t health clubs” - but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone tried to make an issue of it. (See Thursday’s post on smoking in queues outside shops.)
Anyway, I Iook forward to hearing your stories, should you decide to visit the pub over the next few days. If not, tell us why.