Pubs across Weston to reopen this weekend

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sweeping changes to England’s lockdown, including a relaxing of the two metre social distancing rule.

Mr Johnson gave advice for public houses to reconfigure seating, minimise self-service, cancel live music acts and stagger arrivals.

Customers will be encouraged to book in advance and order food and drink direct to their tables through a smartphone app.

While some establishments will reopen, others will not.

The Parish Pump in Worle will be operating under restrictions, entry will be through booking only through the pub’s Facebook page or email.

The Nut Tree, also in Worle, has all its indoor tables fully booked from 4pm on Saturday and will not be taking bookings for the outside tables due to the expected poor weather.

The Duke of Oxford, in Weston town centre, will be opening for online reservations only, which can be made on its website or by using the book now button on its Facebook page.

Worlebury’s Windsor Castle will be reopening on Saturday with all safety systems in place. Table bookings can be made over the phone.

The Bristol House will have an invitation-only opening weekend.

Its spokesman said: “How we operate and how the pub will run will be different to how we all remember it. Our opening hours for the week and weekend will be from 12-10pm.

“We will be operating on a table service basis only, and we would politely ask you not to come to the bar to ask for a drink. “Staff will be on hand as soon as possible, but please understand we are new to a situation like this, and each day we will be learning more efficient ways in how we run the business.

“There will be new rules that will be clearly marked throughout the pub, and we hope that all of our customers will abide by them for the forseeable future.

“We will allow walk-ins, however we have to go by the guidelines that have been set by the Government and we will try our best to follow them as best as we can.

“We will not accept large groups of people in the pub, and we will not allow our staff to be threatened or intimidated in anyway if anyone is refused entry for any reason we give.

“Once our distanced tables are full, we will not be allowing anyone else in the pub until a table is free after being thoroughly cleaned. Our kitchen will not be open initially, however we will open the kitchen as and when people feel comfortable to come and dine with us.”

The Borough Arms, in Milton, will host a soft relaunch on Tuesday.

Publican Simon Blaker told the Mercury: “Where possible I am going to be encouraging people to book in advance so that we can control the capacity but there will be an area for walk-ins available on a first come first serve basis.

“I have purchased sanitiser stations and provisions to control foot flow when entering the pub and there will be a dedicated entrance and exit to the building. There will be table service rather than an app as we have a lot of elderly patrons that probably don’t have smart phones.

“I think pubs more so than other businesses are going to have to walk a fine line between being safe and sterilising what is a social hub for so many local people.

“Initially we are going to need the public to be forgiving in that we are going to get some things wrong as this is unchartered territory but with a controlled opening we can get it right and hopefully return to some sort of norm. Pool tables and fruit machines are going to be off-limits for a while yet though.”

Greene King-owned public houses, including Congresbury’s The Star, The Bridge Inn in Yatton, The Super Mare and Bleadon’s Catherine’s Inn will all open again on Monday.

A Greene King spokesman said: “We’re really looking forward to welcoming you back and we’ve been working hard behind the scenes on the new pub safe promise to make sure you and our teams are as safe as possible in the pub environment you know and love.

“As part of our social distancing promise we’ve reduced the number of tables available, this means we need you to book ahead of visiting to guarantee availability.”

Some establishments will not be serving customers this weekend, such as The Brit Bar, Fork ‘n’ Ale Taproom and Black Cat Micropub.