Even though pubs have been given the green light to return to business on July 4 there's some Nottingham bars which won't be rushing to reopen their doors.
Amongst them are Junkyard and the Herbert Kilpin, in Bridlesmith Walk, and hidden cocktail bar Boilermaker, in Carlton Street.
While he is desperate to welcome drinkers back, owner Nigel Garlick said the doors would remain closed for now due to the government guidelines on social distancing and safety.
"We feel that they will make it impossible for us to deliver a service that we would proud of. And also sadly one that we feel would not be desirable enough, in this current climate climate, to generate a sufficient level of return to justify opening our city centre sites," he said.
"We are desperate to get our bars open, get our 50-plus staff back to work and get trading again.
"However, as a small business we do not have the resources to adapt our premises instantly.
"Our venues are all very different and the cost of modifying them to put in place whatever short term, preventative measures are deemed acceptable, would be too much for us as a group."
Mr Garlick said city centre bars had to deliver an experience worth travelling for and Nottingham's strong reputation as a destination before lockdown "drew large, happy crowds" to sports fixtures, theatres, concerts, shops, restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs.
"We are one of the many of this city's small independent businesses that collectively has created an amazingly strong independent scene and for years this scene has set Nottingham apart from our surrounding cities and towns.
"The city's feel-good factor and goodwill have been seriously damaged by the lockdown, but hopefully not for good.
"With hindsight many things could have been handled differently, but here we are. We hope with better governance and a very clear, united city-centre recovery strategy we can soon play our small part in getting our city's reputation back.
"We are keen to return and play our part, but it is not yet."
Wishing well all his fellow operators reopening on July 4, he added: "They are contributing hugely in the race to get back to normality and we will support them 100%. We hope to make sense of this as soon as possible and when we do open, we promise to deliver the best experience possible.
"We hope you understand and sympathise with the position we are in."
And in a plea to anyone going out on July 4 to venues reopening with scaled back staff, he added: "Be kind, be understanding, and be patient with the staff and tolerant of your fellow customers - basically just don't be that guy."
