Students return to their favourite boozers as pubs reopen with new safety measures

By Megan Evans, News Subeditor

Pubs and bars have been permitted to reopen today, with new measures in place to try and keep staff and customers safe amid the coronavirus.

After months of lockdown, the pouring of pints returned today with pubs reopening across the UK, including some of Bristol’s well-known boozers.

Having resumed service during the coronavirus, pubs have introduced new measures to help protect staff and customers.

At the W.G. Grace Wetherspoon on Whiteladies Road – a popular pub with Bristol students – people are being welcomed at the door by a staff member advising them to use hand sanitiser and order drinks using via an app.

One student to attend a reopened pub, Seb Topan, said ‘it's so normal to be back you forget it's been three months,’ while his friend, Kal Rai, commented: ‘it's great to have a cold pint pulled for you, without having to do anything yourself’.

Pubs have also instated rules that prohibit people from standing at the bar and moving tables and chairs around, in order to maintain social distancing.

In many pubs across Bristol, customers are also being asked to provide personal information upon arrival to help the NHS Test and Trace system.

This is so that people can be contacted promptly if they come into contact with someone with a confirmed case of Covid-19.

Other pubs in Bristol that opened up for business today include Steam on Whiteladies Road, King Street Brew House along the Welsh Back and ‘The Colston Arms’, which at the beginning of the week drew attention for being temporarily renamed ‘Ye Olde Pubby McDrunkface’.

Featured: Megan Evans | Epigram

Have you been to a reopened pub? What was your experience if so? Let us know.