PUBS, hotels, cafés and restaurants are reopening their indoor seating areas today (July 15), nearly four months after coronavirus forced their closure.

A co-owner of the Salmon Inn, on Galashiels’ Bank Street, told the Border Telegraph that it feels “amazing” to be welcoming back customers.

“It’s been a long four months,” said Michelle Douglas. “It’s been really hard – an emotional rollercoaster.”

Scotland’s exit from lockdown moved into “phase three” last week. But today is the first day that the hospitality sector is permitted to reopen indoor areas.

Macari’s Café, on Galashiels’ High Street, had previously been serving takeaways and offering outdoor catering.

But manager Gina Macari says she is looking forward to greeting patrons indoors again.

“It’ll be exciting to get a bit of normality back and see folk again,” she said.

Border Telegraph:

In the Salmon Inn, Mrs Douglas expressed relief that she has been able to retain a full-strength staff, despite the difficulties of the past few months.

She said: “Being able to survive and keeping the jobs for the staff has been one of our biggest concerns, but we’ve managed to do that and not pay anybody off.”

The pub will initially run with restricted trading hours, Mrs Douglas said. Inside, there will also be a number of changes to make sure the official guidance is followed.

“We’ve had to lose a few tables and we’ve got a maximum of six people per booking and everyone has to be seated – there’ll be no-one standing,” said Mrs Douglas.

The hospitality sector has been allowed to drop the two-metre rule in favour of a one-metre rule, on the condition that “mitigatory measures” are introduced.

Mrs Douglas says she is grateful for the tweak to the distancing rule, revealing that her pub “wouldn’t have been able to reopen” otherwise.

However, Mrs Douglas has resisted the temptation to decorate her pub too much with health-advisory notices.

“We haven’t put up any big yellow banners saying ‘Keep your distance’, because we think it might frighten people,” she said, going on to note a further worry amid the joy of reopening.

“One of my biggest fears is the amount of places that are closing down,” she said, referring to the economic impact of COVID-19.

“Will there be the footfall? Are people going to have the disposable income to come [to the pub]?”

The Scottish Government has provided examples of possible mitigation measures, which could operate alongside the one-metre rule.

They include staff wearing face coverings, adequate ventilation and “measures to reduce noise to avoid the raising of voices”.