Beer gardens to be patrolled to enforce social distancing as UK faces ‘new normal’
PLANS for the future of the hospitality industry have been revealed – and pub gardens will be PATROLLED to make sure punters keep to social distancing guidelines.
Tables in restaurants won’t be laid in advance and hotel porters will leave room service outside bedroom doors as part of the new scheme to kick-start the sector in July.
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Boris Johnson is set to announce that the two-metre rule will be relaxed from July 4 and that pubs, restaurants and hotels can reopen, The Times reports.
New guidance drawn up by the Government and hospitality industry officials will also be revealed as Britain gets back to “the new normal”.
The blueprint for reviving the industry will advise that Brits order booze on apps, rather than at bars, before taking their pints back to spaced-out tables.
In eateries, napkins and cutlery will only be brought out with food to cut the risk of transmission.
Disposable menus – featuring fewer options than before – will be thrown out after each use.
Self-service buffets will be banned and waiters must wash their hands between serving different tables.
Hotel guests will be asked to use room service instead of heading to restaurants, and trays will be left in corridors.
If guests become ill, they’ll be asked to return to their own home or self-isolate in their rooms, which will be blocked off for 72 hours after checkout.
OFFICIALS BACK ‘AL FRESCO REVOLUTION’
Cardio and weightlifting machines in gyms will also be spaced out, and capacity will be limited.
Officials are also set to encourage an “al fresco revolution” in new guidance next week.
All pubs, bars and restaurants will be automatically entitled to serve alcohol to people sitting on the pavement or street outside.
Eateries will also be given fast-track permission to set up outside where possible.
The news was revealed on the day Education Secretary Gavin Williamson revealed the Government is committed to bringing “every child back, in every year, group, in every school” next term.
Classes could return to full numbers by increasing the school ‘protective bubbles’ kids are placed in from 15 to 30.
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The Prime Minister has been under pressure to ease the two-metre social distancing guideline to help schools return and businesses open again.
And he today dropped a major hint that he’s on the brink of dropping the rule.
The UK’s coronavirus death toll hit 42,461 today – with a 12-year-old child among the victims.
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