In the newly issued regulations for the second lockdown, alcoholic drinks can be taken away from an on-trade venue if a purchaser collects food or drink that has been pre-ordered by website, phone call, text or post, and provided the purchaser does not enter the premises.
The rules in full:
Poppleston Allen, legal advisors that work with The Morning Advertiser, wrote:
“The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions)(England) (No.4) Regulations have today been published by the Government.
The Regulations order the closure of restaurants, pubs, bars and cafés, however alcohol can be provided as an off-sale through either:
- A delivery (which is made by a website, phone call, text or post)
- A pre-ordered ‘click and collect’ collection provided the customer does not enter the premises (which is made by a website, phone call, text or post)
- A drive through order provided the alcohol is passed to the customer without them leaving the car
It is also possible to sell alcoholic drinks to take away, if the above is followed, and the purchaser arrives to collect in a vehicle and the drink is passed to the purchaser without them leaving the car.
Some relief
This guidance, which can be seen in full here, will offer some relief to operators who believed they would be unable to sell alcohol to takeaway.
In the House of Commons yesterday (Monday 2 November), Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his Government would not allow takeaway alcohol from pubs and bars.
“The answer is there's a budget of measures we need to bring together to bring the R [rate] down and when you start unpicking a lot of the rest of it comes out,” he said, when asked why pubs weren’t allowed to sell takeaway alcohol.
Human life first
The Prime Minister continued: “The people of this country want to put human life first and to save as many lives as possible.
“But if we enforce these measures properly then we should be able to get the R down as I described and have businesses able to open up again.”
This followed Johnson’s weekend announcement to England that the country would be entering a month-long lockdown from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December.