Some Jesmond food and drink outlets are planning to restart their indoor and outdoor seating services this weekend, following last week’s announcement by the prime minister that social distancing rules were being relaxed to one metre from Saturday 4th July.

The re-opening of pubs, hairdressers, hotels and restaurants was also announced in line with these measures.

“We hope to reopen on 4th July,” Lee Shepherd, general manager at The Carriage pub on Archbold Terrace, told JesmondLocal. “We’ll make an announcement on social media once we’re sure.”

Café 1901 on St George’s Terrace also told JesmondLocal that it plans to introduce indoor and outdoor seating and is currently carrying out risk assessments. “The easing of social distancing measures means we will be offering both indoor and outdoor table services across all of our sites,” said Hollie Slack, manager at Café 1901, which has been offering a deliver-only service during lockdown and also operate delis in Manors and Gosforth.

There is still no decision, however, from the organisers of the Saturday Jesmond Food Market on Armstrong Bridge. “We’ve not decided yet whether we can reopen on July 4th,” said Chris Jewitt, managing director of Food and Drink North East. “It is a difficult one to call. Being located on a public walkway, there’s little we can do to control footfall unrelated to the market. But we should have an announcement in the coming days.”

The halving of the social distancing restriction has been critical in changing minds at many Jesmond food and drink businesses regarding whether to reopen. Before last week’s easing of social distancing rules to one metre, some local Jesmond restaurants were telling JesmondLocal they felt unable to safely offer customers a sit-down service, despite Newcastle City Council guidance detailing plans for licence variations in support of pavement-café style outside seating areas.

Before the relaxtion of restrictions, Caspian Turkish Restaurant on Grosvenor Road told JesmondLocal that reopening under two-metre social distancing rules would not have been economically viable. “With two-metre rules, we would only have capacity for 12 tables and no more than 36 people,” explained a spokesperson, who said the restaurant has received no financial help from its landlord or grant from government and has been running a delivery-only service during lockdown.