All current pub rules are set to be scrapped with punters once again able to stand at the bar, as part of stage four of Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown.
The Prime Minister vowed to tear up England’s coronavirus regulations at the next stage of the road map.
The Prime Minister has gambled on trusting the public’s judgment and the protection offered by vaccines as he scrapped mandatory mask-wearing and lifted social distancing requirements.
The so-called “freedom day” is expected on July 19, with a decision on whether or not to go ahead being taken a week earlier.
Table service will be axed, as will the need to pre-book a table before visiting your local boozer.
Customers will no longer need to remain seated and there will be no need to scan a QR code upon your arrival for NHS Track and Trace.
It will no longer be mandatory to wear a face mask and the one-metre rule will be scrapped.
Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association said the industry welcomed Boris Johnson’s update on Monday.
"We have been encouraged by much of what the Prime Minister said today about what Government restrictions will look like in the next phase of reopening,” he said.
"The end of social distancing; the end of the rule of six and table service for indoor mixing; no ban on mass events; the removal of the need to scan a QR code to enter venues; and the decision not to introduce Covid status certification - these are all very important steps that we have been campaigning for, because they are the restrictions which have decimated the night-time economy over the last 16 months.
"We were disappointed again, despite the positive noises, that the Prime Minister did not confirm that reopening would be going ahead on July 19. As we commented at the time of the last decision on restrictions, one week is simply not enough time for businesses to plan to reopen - and it betrays the sense that the Government doesn't understand what it takes to reopen businesses after over a year without trading."
The move comes after the Prime Minister warned it was now or never if lockdown restrictions were to end in England.
He said that now is a “propitious moment” to ease restrictions, given the relatively advanced stage of the vaccine rollout and with the “natural firebreak” of the school summer holidays approaching.
Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference: “And we must be honest with ourselves that if we can’t reopen our society in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer, and by the school holidays, then we must ask ourselves ‘when will we be able to return to normal?’
“And to those who say we should delay again – the alternative to that is to open up in winter when the virus will have an advantage, or not at all this year.”
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