Aussies Get The Drinks In As Pubs Reopen Across Two States

In the UK, we're going to be waiting until July at the earliest until we get the sweet, sweet pleasure of a pint at the pub.

But in the Land Down Under, the blighters have been allowed to wet their whistles once again following the easing of lockdown restrictions in two states.

In New South Wales - the country's most populous state - cafes and eateries opened their doors on Friday morning to a maximum of 10 customers at a time, with social distancing measures still in place, plus all customers were required to order food too.

In the Northern Territory, pubs opened with the same rules in place, except there were no capacity limits. Customers were also not able to stay in the pub for longer than two hours.

David Gray/Getty Images

As well as the reopening of the hospitality industry, people in New South Wales are also now allowed to congregate in groups of 10.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian cautioned people to remain vigilant and maintain social distancing.

She said: "For the first time in a long time, people will be out of the house for recreation purposes, and that means we all have to be vigilant.

"Easing restrictions has failed in so many places around the world and I don't want that to happen in New South Wales, I want people to have personal responsibility for the way we respond."

But while pubs reopening is clearly great news, they won't offer quite the same experience with social distancing measures in place, and they also won't be profitable for many owners.

Paul Waterson, CEO of Australian Venue Co - which manages 150 venues across the country - said reopening venues with 1,000 person capacity to 10 people was not a money-making exercise.

According to The Guardian, he said: "We're not going to make any money opening with 10, but I think it's more about building confidence with our venues as a place to go and eat and socialise.

"If the restrictions say we can only have 10 people, we just have to deal with that."

Australia has recorded 7,022 cases of Covid-19 at the time of writing, with 98 people dying after testing positive for the virus.

Topics: Pubs, Alcohol, Australia

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey