Pubs and restaurants could reopen NEXT MONTH as Boris Johnson says roadmap is moving ‘faster than previously thought’
- Prime Minister sparks hope of reopening pubs and restaurants from next month
- Boris Johnson says we may be able to do things ‘faster than previously thought’
- Government lockdown roadmap currently has hospitality reopening on July 4
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Pubs could be allowed to reopen as early as next month, as the Prime Minister tonight gave Britons fresh hope of enjoying a drink in a beer garden this summer.
Boris Johnson tonight told MPs he hopes to allow watering holes and restaurants to re-open earlier July 4 – the date which has been set down in the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
Pubs and restaurants have been closed across Britain since the government imposed the coronavirus lockdown at the end of March.
This evening, Mr Johnson told MPs on the Liaison Committee: ‘On hospitality… we are really trying to go as fast as we can.
‘It is really difficult to bring forward hospitality measures in a way that involves social distancing.
‘But I am much more optimistic about that than I was. We may be able to do things faster than I previously thought.’
Pubs could be allowed to reopen as early as next month, as the Prime Minister tonight gave Britons fresh hope of enjoying a drink in a beer garden this summer. Pictured: Boris Johnson appeared before the Liaison Committee this evening
Boris Johnson tonight told MPs he hopes to allow watering holes and restaurants to re-open earlier than July. Pictured: The Old House at Home pub close to West Wittering beach today
It comes as in the same meeting, Boris Johnson asked top Government scientists to review the two-metre social distancing rule in the ‘hope’ that it can be reduced, he told MPs today.
The UK has one of the strictest contact gap rules in the world to counter coronavirus transmission, double the one metre gap recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
That is the distance permitted in Hong Kong, Singapore, France and China, while Australia, Germany and the Netherlands recommend 1.5 metres.
Schools and shop in the UK are due to open in the next few weeks with strict measures already being planned to keep children and shoppers two metres from each other as much as possible in both settings.
Facing senior MPs on the Liaison Committee this afternoon Mr Johnson was asked about the two metre rule by Science Committee chairman Greg Clark.
The PM replied that the Science Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) advice was that there was a ‘considerable reduction in risk at that distance, compared to a smaller gap.
‘My own hope is that as we make progress in getting the virus down … we will be able to reduce that distance which I think will be particularly valuable on (public) transport and in the hospitality sector,’ he added.
‘Their answer is that that is what they feel is the right interval for us. We rely and have done throughout on the guidance we get from our advisers and that is what they think is appropriate at the moment but … that may evolve.
‘As you know Sage has changed its advice, for example on face coverings.’
Mr Clark asked if he would ask Sage to reconsider the advice ‘in good time for shops and other places to consider their practice’, adding: This has a massive impact on whether many workplaces can open.’
The Prime minister replied: ‘I have already done just that.’
Last week pub owners warned that the two-metre distancing rule could keep 80 per cent of pubs from opening because of a lack of space.