What pubs could look like post-lockdown with temperature checks, screens and orders on an app

Pubs in Britain could be a far cry from their usual selves post-lockdown with temperature checks at the door, screens separating tables and no ordering at the bar.

Under-fire Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday pubs and restaurants could be open sooner than expected - as industry chiefs warn some boozers risk being lost forever.

Under current plans, pubs, hotels and restaurants will remain closed until at least July 4, but this could soon change.

As they wait for the green light, pubs are looking at ways of making their premises safe for when they can reopen with measures like screens and one-way systems.

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Last week, pub giant Wetherspoon's said it will spend an initial £11 million making its 875 pubs Covid-19 secure, ahead of reopening, including screens at bars and tables.

The chain said each pub will hire two full-time workers to regularly clean surfaces and touch-points throughout, with more employed in larger pubs.

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Manchester bar Albert’s Schloss, meanwhile, yesterday revealed the measures it’s putting in place to keep staff, customers and performers safe from Covid-19 when it is permitted to reopen.

This could serve as a further indicator of what pubs and bars across the UK may look like in the coming months.

The popular Peter Street venue has installed perspex screens between booths and at the bar, introduced a one-way system, removed tables and cut down its menu, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The maximum capacity will be significantly reduced too in order to ensure safe distancing can occur.

Guests will be greeted outside by a sign displaying ’Haus rules’, a marked-out queueing system, and a beer tap-style hand sanitising station.

Before being seated or served, customers will also face a temperature screening, which alerts staff to anyone with an elevated temperature.

If staff suspect anyone on site is unwell - customer or otherwise - they are likely to be asked to leave and seek medical attention.

Albert’s Schloss will reduce and rotate the number of staff working to keep the number of people on site to a minimum, and has appointed a ‘Covid officer’ who will be responsible for ensuring strict hygiene measures are adhered to.

The customer experience will be very different too - diners can either order and pay for their food through an app, or nominate what Albert’s Schloss is calling a ‘table captain’ who will be given a disposable paper menu and pencil to fill out the party’s orders.

It’s then up to customers to decide how they’d like to receive their food and drinks - at designated collection points around the dining areas, or straight to the table as normal.

Utensils and condiments are to be sanitised thoroughly between each customer and staff will undergo thorough hand-washing every 20 minutes.

It comes after trade body UK Hospitality put forward potential guidelines in a 75-page draft document, with proposals including condiments would not be left on tables, with individually wrapped sauces and condiments handed out by staff on request.

Staff would also need to bring cutlery with customers' food, rather than leave them on tables or allow customers to help themselves.

Tables would be spaced to meet social distancing guidelines and urinals could be separated with screens or removed altogether.

And smoking area patrols could be introduced.

On Wednesday, Mr Johnson told MPs the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) had been told to review the guidance about social distancing.

Pub trade bodies are currently pleading with the Government to minimise the two metre distancing rule to just one, with many boozers too small to make re-opening worthwhile under current guidelines.

This still remains a sticking point, Mr Johnson has admitted, but said work was being done to try and reduce the recommended distance.

The internationally recognised standard, used in the likes of Italy, Denmark and France, is to distance at least one metre, as advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) - despite Britain abiding by older guidance.

The boss of British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has said more than three-quarters of pubs could reopen if social distancing rules were relaxed to one metre.

Chief executive Emma McClarkin warned if the two-metre guidance remains, just one-third could reopen their doors and many would face further financial misery and ruin, warned.

Miss McClarkin, whose organisation represents about 20,000 UK pubs and the majority of brewers, said: "We're not asking unless it's safe to do.

"Pubs are currently on a very highly tuned Government life-support machine.

"The longer they remain on it, and with all the other medicines they have to pay for, some won't survive.

"Once pubs close they are very, very hard to resuscitate."

Miss McClarkin said polling of BBPA members showed about 40% could not survive until September if they remained closed, and the pub sector was burning through roughly £100 million in cash every month during lockdown.

In a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak this week, The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) and UKHospitality (UKH) called for furlough salary for pub and hospitality staff to be maintained at 80% until October.