Government stays firm on 4 July reopening for pubs

During the Government's press briefing yesterday (Tuesday 9 June) business secretary Alok Sharma outlined the Government’s plans for shops, which are set to reopen from Monday 15 June.

The Government has published guidance with Covid-secure guidelines for the retail sector but has yet to reveal this for pubs and restaurants.

These include businesses completing a Covid-19 specific risk assessment and taking necessary steps to manage those risks, as their legal obligation.

Follow guidelines

As part of retail sector guidance, businesses should also display a notice in shop windows or outside doors to show their customers that they have read, and taken steps to follow, the guidelines.

If a shop reopens without putting responsible steps to reduce the transmission of the virus in place, it could be subject to an enforcement notice.

Local authorities and the health and safety executive will regularly carry out checks and respond to concerns from the public regarding risks in the workplace.

Sharma said: “As soon as we can, we will publish further safer working guidance for restaurants, pubs and bars, as well as hairdressers, barbers, nail bars and related services."

Practical steps

He added: “These documents will provide practical steps to allow those businesses to reopen in a manner that is as safe as possible for workers and their customers.

“I know there has been a lot of speculation about when we might be able to reopen these parts of the economy and I completely understand why we are all so keen to get them back up and running – I absolutely share your enthusiasm.

“But we continue to follow the roadmap, which sets out our ambition to reopen these sectors from 4 July at the earliest.”

This follows reports that a group of ministers are working to reopen pubs two weeks early​ (from 22 June), using beer gardens, terraces and marquees.