WHO doesn’t love live music?

Well, one Northwich pub and music venue – the Salty Dog – can look forward to welcoming regulars and newcomers in a more casual way as coronavirus restrictions lift across the country.

Despite the new rules, a lot of pubs in Northwich including the Salty Dog are still being cautious.

Customers will still be asked to track and trace, where masks indoors where possible and social distance where possible – nevertheless, they are more than excited to be back.

“It’s going to be brilliant, we’re very excited. Being able to get back to what we do best is what we’ve been looking forward to since we first went into lockdown last March,” said Ant Ridgway, general manager of the High Street pub.

Gigs were previously in the garden and capped at 30 people, or inside at an even further distance. They can now welcome 75 people out of a maximum capacity of 120.

Ant, 31, continued: “It’s been a vital part of our business that we’ve been missing and a lot of our regulars have been missing it too, so our regulars and other customers are very excited.

On gig nights we will be having bar service because there will be very few tables about but we’ll be doing our best to keep queues as distanced and as safe as possible like we’ll probably asking people to wear a mask in the queue.”

As one of the staples of the pub, Ant has worked at the Salty Dog since it opened in May 2017.

Ant, who has lived in Northwich since 2013, added: “We’re going to treat it like a normal gig just with less people in the building so people can distance a little bit more.”