Many pubs do not have the outdoor space to make opening outdoors commercially viable so, for a lot of pubs this will begin the long road to recovery as they start rebuilding their businesses
The BII welcomed the Prime Minister’s confirmation this afternoon that we can now move to Step 3 on the roadmap, allowing pubs in England to reopen indoors from Monday 17th May.
Steven Alton, BII CEO commented:
“Whilst we welcome this next stage for many of our members, we fully recognise that the remaining restrictions that limit capacity in venues, will severely impact on profitable trading.
“Our members’ pubs will not start their recovery until all restrictions are removed, no later than 21st June 2021. It is critical that Government confirms this at the earliest opportunity, to allow our members time to plan for a full reopening, financially and operationally.
“We would urge the devolved nations to urgently confirm the conditions for full reopening of our members’ pubs across the UK.”
Commenting on the lifting of restrictions, Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said:
“This is another important step on the road to freedom and the recovery of our sector. We know Brits cannot wait to get back inside a warm pub.
“However, inside opening with restrictions is still not enough to secure the survival of pubs. We need them to be fully reopened without any restrictions at all from June 21st to survive and trade viably.”
CAMRA National Chairman Nik Antona said:
“CAMRA are delighted that indoor opening is on track to go ahead from 17th May, so customers can enjoy the social and wellbeing benefits of being back inside the local – not just in its beer garden.
“This will also help the thousands of pubs, particularly smaller community locals, that do not have outside space and who desperately need to start getting money through the tills again.
“Whilst this next step is very welcome, we aren’t out of the woods yet. Distancing and table-service only restrictions will still mean many pubs can’t operate at full capacity with many continuing to struggle to make ends meet as a result.
“The Government should continue to support the beer and pubs sector in the months and years ahead by backing CAMRA’s campaign to cut the rate of duty on beer served in pubs – with the savings passed on to publicans and consumers. This would help pubs to compete with cheap supermarket alcohol and encourage responsible drinking in the supervised setting of the community pub.”
James Calder, SIBA Chief Executive commented:
“Publicans and brewers across England will today be able to let out a sigh of relief when the Prime Minister confirms pubs will be allowed to open indoors from 17th May.The majority of pubs simply do not have the outdoor space to make opening outdoors commercially viable, meaning most have remained closed. Now as pubs are able to invite customers back inside the industry is finally able to begin on its road to recovery.In the week ahead beer from local breweries will be making its way to pub cellars – as landlords prepare to let customers back inside Britain’s Public Houses and serve them a pint of fresh independent beer. Thousands of people across the U.K. have already been sharing photos on social media of them enjoying a pint of cask beer – which is only available in pubs – using the #CaskIsBack hashtag and now with pubs reopening proper this can continue with gusto.”
