The press is reporting this morning that pubs will be able to open from April — but they won’t be able to sell alcohol.
Yesterday’s announcement that the ‘substantial meal’ rule would not apply when pubs re-open offered hope that the government had learnt from mistakes in the past when it comes to hospitality. It seems it hasn’t.
The rationale behind such a move is said to be to stop virus spread by adhering to social distancing. Booze would then be introduced a month later, in May. In some good news, it is widely thought that the useless — in terms of public health — 10pm curfew will go out the window.
Social media has not reacted well. On Twitter, Mark Briggs, AKA Real Ale Up North, posted:
Campaign for Pubs director, Greg Mulholland, tweeted that the government “must open pubs and hospitality when non-essential retail opens, anything else would be non-evidence based and clear prejudice. Plus we need no illogical, unjustifiable rules and indooropening. Well-run pubs have shown they’re safer than many other environments.”
And those are just some of the repeatable comments …
