New coronavirus rule change for pubs and restaurants coming into force on Friday

15 September 2020, 08:05

The hospitality sector will have to follow new laws as of Friday or face the risk of fines.

The UK recently put in place new rules which ban people from meeting in groups of more than six.

And now another law will be coming into force at the end of the week, which will mean pubs, cafes and restaurants will have to keep hold of their customers’ contact details.

These venues will have to take the name, address, phone number and email for people who are eating or drinking in, but not those taking away.

The rule was previously voluntary, but as of Friday it will be mandatory for them to keep the information for 21 days in order to pass it on to the NHS Test and Trace when necessary.

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Customers who refuse to provide their contact details may be refused entry, and venues could face fines if they don’t get the correct info from those who enter their premises.

This comes after reports emerged that bars and restaurants could be ordered to close at 10pm if coronavirus cases continue to rise.

According to the Telegraph, a curfew that would see bars and restaurants told to shut at 10pm is the next 'obvious' step in the fight against coronavirus if current restrictions fail.

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A source told the publication: "A national curfew is the obvious next step if the numbers keep rising despite all the steps we are currently taking.

"But we are not at that stage at the moment, and hopefully the action we are taking locally to contain outbreaks where they occur will mean we don't have to go that far."

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The new 'rule of six' means it's now illegal to gather in groups of seven or more across the country, with the measures introduced following a spike of coronavirus cases in the UK.

Speaking about the prospect of introducing tougher measures, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "I think that as you've seen we've been very prepared to move quickly where necessary and where the evidence poisons us.

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"I think there's an issue about social occasions and social events and particularly young people getting together and enjoying themselves sometimes a bit too much and forgetting the importance of the rules.

"I think it would be idle of me to speculate as to what measures we might have to bring in as we approach the winter."

He added a second nationwide lockdown would be a 'nuclear option', saying: "As the Prime Minister said, going to a national lockdown would indeed be a nuclear option.

"I think here in autumn 2020, knowing much more as we do now about the nature of Covid, but still without a vaccine, we have to take a range of measures which, of course, include enhanced testing, localised measures and indeed the rule of six coming in tomorrow.

"I think the British public now know by taking a combination of different measures we can get through this period."

The government hasn’t confirmed whether or not it will introduce a curfew.

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