A bar on one of the busiest streets in Leeds city centre has implemented a number of new measures to comply with Covid-19 guidelines.
Bar Soba, on the newly revamped Greek Street, was one of the many bars in Leeds to reopen today for the first time since March, with lockdown restrictions allowing also allowing pubs and restaurants to welcome back customers.
While many people decided to stay away, those who did return were a welcome sight for those in the hospitality industry, which has been decimated by the global pandemic.
Our reporter Kristian Johnson was live on Facebook earlier and spoke to Ella Gill, sales and events manager at Bar Soba, about the changes they have put in place to make it safer for customers.
"We have really followed the government guidelines," she said.
"We are doing maximum table sizes of six and no more than two households - and we are being very strict on that.
"We are making sure that it's reservations only, so you can't just walk in and get a table if you've not booked.
"It's a little bit quiter. There's reduced seating and we've made sure the tables are a safe distance apart, so we haven't got as many bookings in as we usually would."
Hand sanitiser stations are placed throughout the bar too, while tables are outside on the pavement, which has had a huge makeover since customers last visited.
No live bands are currently allowed to perform in any bars either, in order to keep noise levels lower than usual.
Around seven or eight tables were full at Bar Soba by early afternoon, although it is likely to be busier later.
Ella said: "We get quite a bit of a rush at two, three and four o'clock, and then again at around eight or nine o'clock aswell.
"We are expecting later on a lot more people to come in and see if they can get a table - so that will be a little bit of a challenge.
"I think everyone's just really excited to be out. I didn't know what the vibe was going to be, but the spirits are really uplifted. It's quite a good atmosphere. It's nice to see everyone getting out and returning to some sort of normality.
"It's been so hard not having any bookings - so it's really good having customers enquiring again."
Although today marks a significant milestone for the hospitality sector, there are fears that government guidelines could change at short notice, causing yet more complications for bars and pubs. Worse still, a second spike in Leeds may see venues temporarily close again.
"Everyone knows today is a bit of a trial," said Ella.
"No one really knows what to expect. I think it will be like that this week and next week.
"We don't know whether the government are going to make another announcement or whether they're going to change things or relax things further. So we're going to take it bi-weekly and in stages."
