Fare deal! Uber offers half-price rides to 150 pubs reopening from April 12

Uber is offering half-price rides to 150 pubs across the country in a bid to get locked-down Brits back out drinking when venues finally reopen next week.

The ride-sharing app has launched a campaign to help get England’s boozers back on their feet, with the wider hospitality sector decimated by restrictions in recent months.

Many will already be chomping at the bit to return to the pub, but as an added incentive, Uber is offering a 50 per cent discount, up to £6, to the first 30,000 riders between April 12 and May 16.

It comes as industry figures warned today that drinkers should take cash to the pub due to ‘control freak’ government rules banning the taking of payments inside.

Landlords fear that patchy rural broadband and mobile signal means that card machines will be difficult to use in pub gardens, creating the prospect of punters not being able to legally pay for pints.  

The Sill and West in Portsmouth is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week 

The Crooked Billet in London is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Crooked Billet in London is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Hare and Hounds in Bath is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Hare and Hounds in Bath is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

 

Meanwhile, some pubs are so desperate to serve locals from Monday that they are opening up at one minute past midnight.

The Kentish Belle, a micropub in Bexley, South East London, has been taking bookings for tables between 0.01am and 3am on April 12 after obtaining a licence to operate as a one-off in the early hours of the morning.  

Other pubs have also been busy getting tents and marquees ready for the big reopening, while the chain Marston’s this week reaffirmed plans to open around 700 beer gardens and other outdoor spaces over the coming days as restrictions ease.

The plea for punters to bring cash is also due to some pubs having licensing restrictions that prevent the taking of payments outdoors – leaving them caught in a net of contradicting regulations with no way to open. 

Ministers are looking at changing the rules before Monday so that payments can be taken inside as a ‘last resort’ when card payment ‘isn’t an option’, according to an internal memo seen by the Telegraph

But drinkers are being urged to consider taking cash anyway so they do not need to leave their tables to pay. 

The reopening comes after it emerged this week that pubs and restaurants could face having to decide whether to operate profitably by scrapping social-distancing in exchange for having to police Covid-19 vaccine passports themselves.

The Government has said the passport schemes could be introduced in hospitality settings in return for ‘reduced social distancing requirements’ – but industry leaders say this will leave them with a ‘Hobson’s choice’. 

Plans for vaccine passports – which were once rejected by the Government as ‘discriminatory’ – have sparked a huge cross-party backlash, with 72 MPs signing a pledge to oppose them, including more than 40 Conservatives.

The Prime Minister has insisted pubs and restaurants will not need to introduce the schemes when they reopen outdoors next Monday or when they first permit customers indoors, probably on May 17.

But a review suggests they could ‘play a role in reducing social distancing requirements’ later in the summer, with a document confirming the NHS is already working on both digital and paper systems for the scheme.

Water Witch in Lancaster is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

Water Witch in Lancaster is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Judges Lodging in York is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Judges Lodging in York is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Rose and Crown in Oxford is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Rose and Crown in Oxford is one the 150 pubs to benefit from the Uber offer when it reopens its pub garden next week

The Kentish Belle in Bexley, South East London

The Kentish Belle in Bexley, South East London

The Kentish Belle in Bexley, South East London, has been taking bookings for tables between 0.01am and 3am next Monday

 

Uber has partnered with The Good Pub Guide to compile a list of the top 150 venues across the country which have outdoor spaces and can be chosen as destinations using the offer.

These include Highbury Vaults in Bristol, The Perch in Oxford and Black Lion in Brighton.

Brad Francis, manager of Highbury Vaults, told MailOnline: ‘It’s great to hear of this offer to help out the industry, but unless customers have reserved a table I’m afraid they’ll be disappointed as we’re fully booked for all of the first week.

‘Ever since it was announced that we could open on April 12, it’s just gone mental, and the support from people has been fantastic.

‘The last few months have been completely soul destroying, so we can’t wait to welcome everyone back on Monday.’

To take advantage of the offer, users should enter the promo code THEPUBAWAITS in their app before booking a trip.

It comes as a nationwide poll revealed that 13 million adults will be visiting the pub next week, with half citing supporting the struggling sector as the reason for their visit.

Half (48%) of people said they felt safe returning to the pub, with 74% happy to sit outdoors to help stop the spread of Covid. 

Meanwhile, more than half (52%) said pubs reopening makes them feel as though they are returning to normal life.

Jamie Heywood, Regional General Manager for Northern and Eastern Europe, Uber, said: ‘As the country slowly starts to unlock and outdoor hospitality reopens, we want to play our role and support the pubs, restaurants and cafes across England that have been shut for many months. 

‘That is why we are offering users 50% discounted trips to those who are looking to venture out and return to their favourite local, as we all look towards brighter times ahead.’

Uber’s list of 150 pubs with outdoor space reopening from Monday 

Hare & Hounds Bath

Bath Brew House Bath

Royal Oak Bath

Physician Birmingham

Old Moseley Arms Birmingham

Plough Birmingham

Purecraft Bar & Kitchen Birmingham

Wellington Birmingham

Physician Birmingham

The Railway Bell Brighton

Black Lion Brighton

Caxton Arms Brighton

Cricketers Brighton

Daddy LongLegs Brighton

Highbury Vaults Bristol

Alma Bristol

Gloucester Old Spot Bristol

Grain Barge Bristol

Inn on the Green Bristol

Kensington Arms Bristol

Old Harkers Arms Chester

Bear & Billet Chester

Boathouse Chester

Coach House Chester

Oakfield Chester

Pied Bull Chester

Alexandra Derby

Brunswick Derby

Grove Huddersfield

Rat & Ratchet Huddersfield

Borough Lancaster

The Sun Lancaster

Water Witch Lancaster

Beck and Call Leeds

Grove Leeds

Kirkstall Bridge Leeds

Whitelocks Leeds

Britannia Leicester

Forge Leicester

Globe Leicester

Dog & Bone Lincoln

Jolly Brewer Lincoln

Red Lion Lincoln

Dead Crafty Beer Liverpool

Baltic Fleet Liverpool

Thomas Rigbys Liverpool

Alexandra London

Alfred Tennyson London

Anglesea Arms London

Atlas London

Beau Brummell London

Bell & Crown London

Black Friar London

Blue Anchor London

The Abbeville London

Camden Head London

Carpenters Arms London

Case is Altered London

Cask Pub & Kitchen London

Coach & Horses Barnes London

Coach Makers Arms London

Crooked Billet London

Crooked Well London

Crown London

The City Barge London

Dovetail London

George London

Goldsmiths Arms London

Grazing Goat London

Guildford Arms London

Hare & Hounds London

Ivy House London

Jerusalem Tavern London

Jolly Gardeners London

Kings Head London

Lamb Tavern London

Latchmere London

Lighterman London

London Apprentice London

Lord Northbrook London

Market Porter London

Mayflower London

Morpeth Arms London

Mr Fogg’s Tavern London

Mute Swan London

Nightingale London

Oak London

Old Nun’s Head London

Old Orchard London

Olde Mitre London

Orange London

Park Tavern London

Pear Tree London

Pilot London

Porterhouse London

Princess Victoria London

Railway Tavern London

Red Lion London

The Roebuck London

Rose and Crown London

Thomas Cubitt London

The Ship London

Spaniards Inn London

Tapping The Admiral London

Thatched House London

Two Doves London

The Union Tavern London

Victoria London

Windsor Castle London

The White Cross London

The White Horse London

Jolly Coopers London

The Woodman London

Wharf Manchester

Dukes Manchester

Font Manchester

Mr Thomas’s Chop House Manchester

New Oxford Manchester

Oast House Manchester

Old Wellington Manchester

The Bluebell Newcastle

Dick Turpin Newcastle

The Falcons Nest Newcastle

Fat Cat Norwich

Old Green Dragon Nottingham

Radcliffe Nottingham

The Bear in Oxford

Perch Oxford

Punter Oxford

Rose & Crown Oxford

Chequers Oxford

Head of the River Oxford

Isis Farmhouse Oxford

Charters Peterborough

Old Customs House Portsmouth

Bridge Tavern Portsmouth

Still & West Portsmouth

Ranmoor Inn Sheffield

Rising Sun Sheffield

Sheffield Tap Sheffield

Glebe Stoke

Bulls Head Stoke

Harrys Bar Wakefield

Great Western Wolverhampton

Hail to the Ale Wolverhampton

Butchers Arms Worcester

Chequers Worcester

Nags Head Worcester

Plough & Harrow Worcester

Judges Lodging York