Pubs and restaurants to ‘hopefully’ reopen in July, Cabinet minister says – Daily Star

Pubs and bars could be re-open from July, the Environment Secretary, George Eustice has claimed.

Mr Eustice said that he is hopeful the hospitality industry and the pub sector will be able to open "during the month of July, subject to science.

He said the Government is "already working with the hospitality and pub sector to identify what social distancing measures" might be able to put in place to make service possible.

His comments come just a day after Bella Italia, Las Iguanas and Cafe Rouge owners announced plans to contact administrators after two months of coronavirus lockdown.

The Environment Secretary said the Prime Minister has outline a plan to get pubs and restaurants opening "tentatively" during the month of July.

He said: "As the Prime Minister has outlined, we intend that the hospitality sector, including pubs, would be able to tentatively start gradually opening hopefully during the month of July - subject to the epidemiology supporting such a move."

Bella Italia, Las Iguanas and Cafe Rouge are just the latest high street restaurant staples facing difficulties as a result of the crisis.

The owners of restaurants Frankie & Bennys and Chiquito have announced more than 100 branches will close across the UK.

It has earmarked 42 sites which it plans to close, in addition to another 76 Frankie & Bennys sites it identified earlier this year.

It is estimated that thousands will be out of a job by the time Britain begins to see a glance of the "new normal" and hospitality workers have been urged to find jobs at Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's in the meantime.

The Environment Secretary also highlighted the agricultural fruit-picking scheme, as only a third of the usual European fruit-picking workforce will be available to work in the UK as a result of the virus.

Shadow Environment Minister, Daniel Zeichner, said: "The foolish dismantling of the seasonal agricultural workers scheme, now made worse by the Covid crisis, means we're facing an alarming shortfall in the experienced 70,000 people needed to pick our crops."

Mr Eustice said: "We estimate that probably only about a third of the usual East European workforce that would come to work on our farms is either here or in some cases has continued to come.

"That means that this year we will need a British workforce to step up and assist in getting the harvest in this year and we're very encouraged by results so far."

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Pubs and restaurants to 'hopefully' reopen in July, Cabinet minister says - Daily Star