So yes, the short answer is we’re reopening on Friday 10th July. Below, we’ll explain how we’re going to operate in the current climate, although as we’re still almost a fortnight away, this should be considered quite ‘fluid’ and may change as further advice and guidance is issued.

We’re not opening on the 4th for a number of reasons. First and foremost, is we simply don’t want to rush things. There’s a number of alterations we need to make, stock to bring back to an operating level etc. Yes, we could open on the 4th but we’re not just dealing with our livelihoods here, we’re dealing with our customers’ lives, an extra week to make sure we’ve got everything right seems pretty reasonable.

Additionally, there’s probably going to be a bit of a mad weekend beginning on the 4th and honestly, we just don’t want to be part of it. We desperately want to see our friends and regulars in the pub again (which feels a strange thing to say when we’ve only operated as a ‘proper pub’ for a week pre-lockdown!) but half of South Liverpool is going to be out for a pint that weekend and it has the potential to get messy – we hope to be proven wrong on this one, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

We’ll be shut for a few days

We’ll continue to offer take-outs and deliveries as we have been doing up until, and including, Sunday 5th July. Then we’ll be shut up until Friday 10th when we re-open.

How it will work

So, once we are open, how are we going to do things? Rather than repeat our Covid Risk-Assessment verbatim, some highlights will be:

Limited Seating – We’re removing a few tables to ensure 2m distances for separate groups, or 1m with mitigation (for us, this will be back-to-back seating). Additionally, to begin with, we’ll be limiting visits for 2.5 hours at a time.
Outdoor Seating – We’ve applied for a Temporary Street Cafe License from Liverpool City Council which will allow us 2 tables/4 chairs at the front of the pub – any other outdoor drinking won’t be permitted so if all the tables are full, you can’t stand outside with a pint.
Take-Outs Still a Thing – We’ll be continuing to offer take-outs (draught beers, as well as cans and bottles, but no gins) for those of you who still aren’t sure about returning to the pub. Deliveries will however be finishing when we close on the 5th.
Hygienic Menus – We’ll have wipe-down menus which will be given to you at your table for all our drinks. You’ll still be able to have a look at the beer boards, pump clips and the bottles in the fridge, just respect people’s space around you if you do.
Individual Hand Sanitiser – When you visit, you/your group will get a bottle of hand sanitiser for the duration of your stay – use it before and after you handle anything that gets touched by anyone other than yourself, when going to the toilet for example. (Please don’t steal the sanitiser, yes we make it ourselves in the distillery, but still, don’t be a meff).
Contact Details – Possibly one of the most contentious elements of the ‘new normal’ for people going for a bev, we’re opting for a simple, low-tech but reliable approach. When you visit, you’ll be asked to fill in a form yourself with your name and phone number, that’s it. We’ll keep it in our safe for 21 days, then it gets shredded. As of yet, we’ve no idea under what circumstances we’re meant to ‘use’ this contact data – Government guidance on this issue has been sparse to non-existent so far (shocker!), so we’re going with what we think is the best approach – if it changes, we’ll let you know. This will probably get its own blog post sometime soon actually.
No board games – our board games in the snug have been put into hibernation, sorry.
Amazing beer – Really, we were quite proud of our opening line-up of beers back on March 13th and we’re putting as much effort into this one too, expect an Imperial Cherry Pie Milk Stout, Tzatziki Sour and one of our favourite Best Bitters ever.