Pub landlords and restaurant owners are being warned they have a responsibility to ensure social distancing between customers when they reopen.

Bars, restaurants and pubs can reopen from today, as the Government eases Covid-19 restrictions

Eden Council’s principal environmental health officer Emma Brass says social distancing will need to be considered just like any other health and safety issue and landlords could face enforcement action if customers do not adhere to guidelines.

She said: “The guidance says that social distancing should be two metres and where that is not possible it can be one metre with mitigating measures. So any risk assessment will need to show what those controls are.

“It is a health and safety responsibility such as avoiding slippery floors. If somebody got up on a table in a pub you would expect the manager to tell them to get off and it’s the same if people are stood too close together - you deal with it like any other health and safety measure.

“If we see or get reports of crowded pubs we will speak to the bar manager and ask them what action they will be taking to control the situation. If premises are not operating safely then they may to have to close and re-evaluate so they can move forward.

“We expect this will be a learning curve for the public as well as businesses, who will probably need to review their risk assessments after the first weekend and maybe consider further changes to the layout of the pub or using staff to monitor queues and social distancing at busy times.”

Sam Norman runs the Dutch Uncle bar and restaurant and Maggie Elliott & the Three Pillars, which was closed within weeks of opening due to the coronavirus lockdown. Both establishments will reopen to customers today.

“We only had Maggies open a month before lockdown, so we haven’t had long in there,” he said.

“We were just getting up and running properly and then lockdown happened. We feel we didn’t have a good run at it, so staff are excited. It feels like we are opening a new restaurant completely.”

Eden Council is also urging pubs and restaurants to remember other safety obligations cannot be compromised by new arrangements, such as the blocking of fire exits to facilitate queues at the bar, for example.

“I really hope members of the public can enjoy the kind of social activity they have not been able to do during lockdown and businesses can build up their trade again, but we all need to follow the rules so the restrictions can be lifted further,” explained Emma Brass.

“I don’t want to see a localised lockdown or an Eden lockdown like we have in Leicester if infections rise because of a lack of social distancing.”