What’s the ‘new normal’ like for restaurants and pubs?

On Saturday evenings I meet up with three friends from my university days, on WhatsApp and enjoy a couple of pints of beer at a social distance of at least 100 miles.

I do miss popping out to the local micro pub and meeting locals and strangers from all walks of life but that can wait until life is back to normal or at least the health risk is insignificant.

Cheers!

There is a fear of death if the virus is allowed to spread without any controls. I wonder if the responsible part of the population – the majority – would have been so careful with their behaviour if the government had not made that fear so real? I still open my post with gloves, wear a mask and gloves at the petrol (diesel) station, socially distance and wash my hands a lot.

You could dispense with the gloves when opening the post if you wash your hands afterwards. I still open mine outside and drop the envelopes into the bin. Until someone provides evidence that people are being infected by touching envelopes or unsanitised door handles, I will assume that keeping away from others is the most effective precaution we can take.

It is habit, wavechange, and I am less likely to inadvertently touch my face when wearing a vinyl glove. I think habit, consistency, is helpful. Like opening doors with an elbow. It is easy to forget simple precautions.

Yes indeed. Habit – or in the workplace following standard procedures – is important for all aspects of safety. My mother taught me to wash my hands after using the toilet and I always have done. I also wash my hands as soon as I get home, and that’s more important at present.

I am disappointed at how many people leave a public toilet without washing their hands. I imagine who they are going on to touch, serve food to, leave bacteria on door handles………..

Agreed. This is awful behaviour in normal circumstances, never mind anything else.

It’s disgusting that people don’t wash their hands after visiting the toilet but despite that they manage to survive for a lifetime. Our immune system can usually defend us against low level infections.

What we have learned during the pandemic is that many, particularly young people, show no symptoms of Covid-19, yet they could be exhaling very large numbers of virus particles.

When I do venture out to the pub it will be to one where the drinks are brought to a table outside.

I agree. I hate seeing more than half of women using my local supermarket toilets go straight out into the food hall. But one hears of dozens of people having upset stomachs or worse illnesses. Not all are invented to get time off work. So maybe never in 70 years having had a bad stomach could be at least partly due to hygiene?

I’m more worried about licking the envelope when I have to send a birthday card.

Brissie – Face coverings will not be compulsory for staff in shops, but all customers will be required to wear them.

If infection from customers is prevented then the risk to staff is significantly reduced and it was felt that to require an employee to wear a face covering continuously for very long periods would be unreasonable.

When washing your hands you should wet them, apply soap and rub the hands together covering all parts and then rinse. Rinsing the soap off should take no more than three seconds and there is no need to leave the tap running throughout the washing process.

3 seconds is not long enough for me wavechange and sometimes you only get a quick spurt of water. I have sensitive skin so have to make sure soap is thoroughly rinsed off otherwise my hands will itch like he11. If I have a friend with me I get them to hold down the tap while I rinse or even ask someone else if necessary.

Many automatic taps stay on for a shorter time than they are designed to as a result of wear. I don’t know if they can be adjusted or have to be replaced, but it has long been an annoying problem in pubs and motorway service areas. Hopefully they will be replaced with sensor-controlled taps that turn the water on and off automatically. Perhaps Covid-19 will bring this forward.

I am a frequent hand washer and to avoid skin problems I generally rinse my hands in cool or cold water to minimise skin damage.

It won’t be a problem for a while yet, as we are staying firmly in for now.

I agree. The only British pubs where I’ve previously experienced table service for drinks is Gibraltar.

Having not been in a pub since early March I am coping fine. Like John I suspect that the atmosphere of pubs has changed. I do miss popping into a pub for a drink (always real ale, otherwise I would walk out) and a chat. At home I sometimes have a glass of wine with a meal at home, but rarely beer. Since the lockdown started I have been buying a few bottles of beer and an occasional bottle of whisky when I place a supermarket order. Even without the risk of infection, I’m not interested in visiting a pub until life returns to normal.

I enjoy going out for a meal but prefer making a meal with one or more friends. I had one this evening and it’s not that difficult to keep your distance.

Extra garlic should help 🙂

I was thinking of Darth Vader masks all round. 🙂

I hadn’t appreciated that live music was off the agenda in pubs. I might reconsider my objection to visiting them now.

I do not understand the obsession with having music imposed all the time, much of it pretty mediocre or worse. Restaurants, shops, documentaries, films……. I’d rather just like be able to hear myself think and have a conversation, listen to the dialogue. We don’t get musical intrusion when we go to the theatre. That seems successful. And if I do need it I can go to a musical or the opera.

Having said that, I do like to have Classic fm on in the garden when I’m weeding or digging. But that is because much of the music is worth listening to and, more to the point, it is from choice.

Live music has a long association with pubs. We have a pub in town that has regular live music and many do enjoy these evenings. A couple of others have occasional music nights. I won’t be there and I also avoid pubs with large screens showing sport.

A few musicians sometimes play at one end of our micropub but it’s quiet and does not affect conversation. On these evenings visitor use the back door because it is difficult to get past the double bass.

Presumably they use a microphone? Singing, blowing instruments will spread the Coronavirus over much greater distances; wearing a mask would be tricky. Play safe. Perhaps they could play outside and willing drinkers could be given headphones?

All I have heard in our micropub has been instrumental music. Having not been since it reopened I do not know if there is any music. Thankfully there is no piped music and all that is ever shown on the TV is a list of beer and cider available.

Somewhere there’s a topic on background music in shops and other places. The problem is that most of it is sourced from places that don’t require licensing, so it tends to be somewhat ropey at best.

It’s always surprised and depressed me, in equal measure, that businesses don’t try using music which is Baroque or Classical.

I used to patronise a bookshop in central London that played classical music and it was very relaxing and the ideal accompaniment to book-browsing. It was largely mainstream classical but occasionally with esoteric pieces that were well-chosen and expanded my musical knowledge.

Before they folded in the UK, Borders bookshops used to play a range of musical genres [I think they sold CD’s] which were quite agreeable. Getting the choice and the volume right seems to be the key.

In pubs I never objected to what came out of the juke box because they were the customers’ own selections and they were usually artistes’ original recordings. In latter days pubs have installed loudspeakers in all parts of all the drinking areas so there is no escape.

I do like the output of some small bands and about a year ago went to a practice night for a jazz and swing band with nineteen musicians. Now, if that came to my local pub I would be there.