Landlords are struggling to keep drinkers from getting too close to each other despite stringent Covid-19 measures in place.
Last night pubs in England were open for their first Friday night since lockdown.
In Leeds, people were seen huddled close together in kebab shops after partying into the early hours.
Under the government regulations, people from separate households should keep at least one-metre apart - but flirty Brits are making it difficult for bar staff to enforce.
Louis Chauvin, 26, who runs the Jaguar Shoes bar in Hoxton, told The Times : “It’s quite hard to communicate to customers, especially after two or three drinks, that they need to behave.
"They can’t just get up and go to the bar and get a drink or go to another table and chat to someone random they don’t know.
"Mostly the issue we have is there’s a table of pretty ladies and a table of pretty boys and they just go over, like, ‘All right do you want a drink?’ — you can’t do that.”
Revellers hugged each other tightly, held hands and enjoyed one another's company after months of minimal contact.
Brits have been urged to 'be sensible' with the restrictions.
Roy O’Keefe, owner of The Tib Street Tavern in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, said it was the younger customers who were mostly embracing the new freedoms.
He said: “The older crowd don’t seem to be coming in as much, it’s all lager that we’re selling at the moment — so you can tell it’s a younger age group.”
Pictures from Super Saturday last weekend showed the streets of Soho packed and little sign of social distancing or mask-wearing.
There has been no suggestion yet that pubs reopening in England has caused an increase in the number of infections but there is normally a two-week delay between someone being infected and a positive test.
Some 15million pints were drunk over the course of Super Saturday and John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation, said it was "crystal clear" that people cannot follow social distancing measures when they've been drinking.
Mr Apter, who was on shift in Southampton where he dealt with "naked men, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights and more angry drunks", said: "What was crystal clear is that drunk people can't/won't socially distance.
"It was a busy night but the shift managed to cope. I know other areas have had issues with officers being assaulted."
Rafal Liszewski, a store manager at Clonezone on Soho's Old Compton Street, described crowds in the area on Saturday night as "out of control".
"Around 1pm crowds started to arrive... quickly everything got out of control and by 8-9 pm it was a proper street party with people dancing and drinking," the 36-year-old said.
"Barely anyone was wearing masks and nobody respected social distancing... to be honest with that many people on one street it was physically impossible."
