When will pubs reopen in the UK?

United Kingdom | Pressure to reopen pubs is mounting. Previous guidelines by the government say they could bounce back from 4 July 2020 “at the earliest”. A leaked blueprint by the Department for Business suggests end of June.

UK media reported on 2 June that hopes are soaring for pubs to fully reopen by the end of the month. So much so that breweries have promised landlords that their first kegs of post-lockdown beer will be delivered from 15 June onwards.

According to the Sun newspaper, brewers Heineken, Asahi and AB-InBev stopped making kegs of lager beer after the introduction of lockdown on 20 March, because of plummeting demand. Many pubs have had to dump entire cellars of stock which had gone out of date.

With some pubs partially reopened on 30 and 31 May, using outdoor market-style stalls, many landlords have been caught short with little or no draught beer to sell.

Under new plans, patrons may have to order their drinks remotely via an app so that it can be served to their tables. Tables will have to be placed two metres apart to observe social distancing rules.

All this suggests that the UK’s roadmap out of the lockdown is rewritten on an almost daily basis.