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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Jess Flaherty

Good Morning Britain visits Liverpool local in pubs reopening debate

Good Morning Britain visited a Liverpool pub during a debate about when pubs should reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Connor McDonald, manager of popular Shenanigans pub on Tithebarn Street, appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss the measures the pub has taken to operate during lockdown.

Customers could be seen lining up outside Shenanigans last week, talking with one another as they queued up to get a takeaway drink.

(Liverpool Echo)

The pub is offering beer, cider, wine, soft drinks and snacks for customers to take home with them - with pints being dished out in glass milk bottles.

Speaking of safety measures which could allow the pub to reopen to the public, the manager said: "We usually have capacity for about 220 people but we'd have to put it down to about 80 people."

(Liverpool Echo)

He also suggested removing some tables to maximise social distancing possibilities.

Former model Jodie Kidd, who runs her own pub Half Moon, also appeared on the popular breakfast show - but she believes it's "impossible" for her pub to reopen at the moment.

She said: "It virtually is impossible.

"A lot of our pubs are really old buildings... it is just impossible to get around the bar and not encroach on that social distancing."

The former Strictly Come Dancing star said it was "such a sad sight" to see her pub empty during the recent spell of sunny weather but added "we have to abide by what the scientists" are telling us.

On the subject of social distancing, she reiterated: "In little pubs, it's going to be impossible."

The TV personality said pubs were being lost before the outbreak of coronavirus and added "it is a tough industry" but she praised the government for giving pubs grants as the crisis continues.

Of Shenanigans in Liverpool, Good Morning Britain presenter Ben Shephard added: "They are doing take-out beers but they're still struggling... it's a social thing."

Some hospitality firms are calling for safe distance advice to be reduced to one metre instead of two metres.

But Jodie Kidd added: "It's something we shouldn't rush."

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