AS pubs and bars were allowed to reopen their beer gardens and outdoor spaces today, we visited a two of Northwich’s favourite spots to find out how they plan to navigate the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown.

Popular Wetherspoon pub The Penny Black in Witton Street reopened its doors to the public at 9am on Monday and it wasn’t long before the first customers made their way into its spacious beer garden to catch some rays and enjoy a bevvy with friends.

For pub manager Charlotte Bailey and her team, it was a delight to be back pulling pints and delivering drinks directly to customers’ tables.

“It’s been so nice to see people again,” she said. “For so long now we’ve been at home, we’ve not been able to go out, so it’s been nice to have customers back, including some of our regulars.

“The first customer was at about 9am this morning as we opened and we had a few more gradually popping in from then. It wasn’t big crowds early on or anything but I think people have just been eager to get out and were just glad to see each other.

“It’s not just about the alcohol – there’s a really nice social aspect here. It’s nice to be able to come out to the beer garden, and get to see people – it’s been so long.

"You’ve not been allowed to see your friends, let alone strangers, so I think it’s great to be able to come out in public again.

“I’m hoping we have some nice sunshine in the coming weeks, although with the weather we’ve had yesterday who knows going to happen - at one point it was sunny, the next minute it was snowing. But, hopefully, people will still come out and we can get some normality back in life, because that’s all people want.

“We’ve got lots of ideas for when the restrictions hopefully lift even further, but for now, we’re just focussing on our outdoor areas and hoping for the sunshine.

“We’re happy to see people back at the pub, having a nice time, doing something for fun rather than necessity. This is the first step back to actually getting to have some pleasure in life.”

Northwich Guardian: Keith Davies serves customers at Temple Café Bar on Witton StreetKeith Davies serves customers at Temple Café Bar on Witton Street

Meanwhile at the neighbouring Temple Café Bar, on Witton Street, owner Keith Davies was thrilled with the support from old and new customers and was especially grateful that the sun had appeared for a very busy Monday morning.

“Firstly, it’s a brilliant day,” he said. “We’ve been blessed with the weather – it’s cold but it’s lovely and sunny. We looked at the weather forecast last week and it was 70 per cent chance of rain, and then it changed on Friday to a 40 percent chance of snow, but we’ve come out today and it’s beautiful, sunny weather. It’s absolutely knocked our socks off.

"It's like a busy Saturday, it’s fantastic. It’s just so nice to see so many people about. We’ve got tables reserved, but we’ve also had people just bobbing in for a coffee before they go and do their shopping.

“We’ve had more than 30 bookings which is really good, and people popping in which great, especially considering we’ve only got outside for the moment – we’re doing OK.

“People are dying to get inside again. We’ve do loads of painting and decorating to give it a bit of a fresh look.

“What I am most looking forward to going forward is same as it probably is for everyone else – it’s that buzz. When you walk into a place and can feel and hear an atmosphere, you can’t beat it.

"We had that feeling before Christmas and it was just gorgeous and then we’ve had four months of no feelings so it’ll be so nice to finally see people doing something so normal again.”