Greene King, which operates 125 pubs Scotland including 95 under the Belhaven brand, has unveiled details of how its pubs will look and operate ahead of them reopening.

It includes a scheme called “pub safe”, a new set of hygiene measures for its team and customers. 

All Greene King’s 1700 managed pubs will follow the new pub safe rules designed to look after team members and ensure customers can socialise safely, the brewer said.

It includes sanitiser and Perspex screens in bars and a new safe socialising layout is being introduced in the pubs, with clear signage to direct customers through when given the go-ahead in Scotland.

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Tables will be spaced out further in-line with any government guidelines and customers will be encouraged to pre-book a table rather than stand at the bar.

As well as the bar service area, screening will be positioned between booths where necessary.

There will be new one-in-one-out red and green indicators at the entrances to the toilets so customers can flip the indicator with their elbow as they enter and exit, with toilets cleaned every 15 minutes.  

The Herald:

As part of its commitment to keep team members safe Greene King has invested £15 million in pub safe related measures for a phased reopening, including protective measures for teams and customers. Teams are undergoing comprehensive training ahead of reopening and will be temperature checked ahead of every shift. Investment is also being made in additional team members to keep hygiene standards high.  

Nick Mackenzie, Greene King chief executive, said: “We can’t wait to welcome our customers back to our pubs and we know people are eager to return to their local. The safety of our customers and team members is always our number one priority and against the backdrop of a slow recovery from Covid-19, we are investing to put in place all the necessary arrangements.  Of course, customers will notice some differences when they return but it’s important that alongside implementing the changes, we maintain the very essence of the great British pub.”

“Many pubs across the country, including a number of our own, will not be financially viable or able to open for operational reasons with the current restrictions in place and we hope that, for the future of our industry, these measures will be short-lived. 

“We are working towards a phased re-opening and are planning to open as many as we can. However, the future of our industry is reliant on continued support from government and reducing social distancing from two metres to one would make it possible for many more pubs across the country to be viable.”

The UK economy contracted by more than a fifth in the first full month of lockdown, as shops and factories closed and workers were sent home.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that economic activity was down by 20.4% in April - the largest drop in a single month since records began in 1997, and worse than many experts were forecasting.

READ MORE: UK GDP shrank 20% in first full month of Covid-19 lockdown, statistics show

The fall massively outstrips the then-record 5.8% drop in March gross domestic product (GDP) that the ONS reported last month.

It means that GDP fell by 10.4% in the three months to April and sets the UK on course for one of its worst quarters in history.

Experts had been expecting April's GDP to contract by 18.7%, according to a consensus compiled by Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Neil Birrell, chief investment officer at asset manager Premier Miton, said: "All the economic data out of the UK for April showed the economy to be in awful shape - in fact, worse than expected.

"Other countries' data is improving as lockdown eases and the concern is that the UK is getting left behind and, as we are currently witnessing, equity markets are very sensitive to any threat to recovery."

The figures are a throwback to the early days of lockdown, but the ONS will not reveal what happened to the economy in May until next month.

It is likely to show another shocking drop, before lockdown started to ease in some parts of the economy this month.

Many British businesses were placed on ice on March 23 when Prime Minister Boris Johnson told people they must stay inside and only leave the house when absolutely necessary.

The measures were announced to slow the spread of Covid-19. Debate is now turning to how to safely reopen to mitigate some of the worst economic impacts while still trying to constrain the spread of the disease.

British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair have launched legal action against the Government's "flawed" 14-day quarantine policy.

The airlines announced they have asked for a judicial review to be heard "as soon as possible", claiming the measures introduced this week will have a "devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy".

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They said they have seen no evidence of when proposed air bridges between the UK and other countries will be implemented.

Instead, they want the Government to re-adopt the policy it introduced on March 10, which saw passengers from countries deemed at high risk of coronavirus infection being order to self-isolate on arrival in the UK.

The three airlines said in a joint statement: "This would be the most practical and effective solution, and enables civil servants to focus on other, more significant issues arising from the pandemic while bringing the UK in line with much of Europe which is opening its borders mid-June."

Among the claims made by the airlines in their legal challenge to the quarantine are that the guidelines are more stringent than those applied to people confirmed to have Covid-19, there was no consultation on scientific evidence and foreigners commuting weekly to the UK are exempt.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has insisted the policy can "help stop a devastating second wave" of coronavirus.