A taste of freedom for South Wiltshire's hospitality businesses
For the first time since January customers can eat and drink inside
Last updated 17th May 2021
Today, the majority of restaurants, bars and cafes in Salisbury are welcoming customers back to indoor dining, with social distancing.
Since 12th April they have been serving food and drink outside.
On May 10th, the Prime Minister confirmed that stage three of the Roadmap out of lockdown will go ahead as planned.
As well indoor dining returning, inside socialising is also allowed, meaning six people or two house holds can mix.
After having a limited of outdoor seating and no cover to protect customers from the bad weather, Coffee Darling in Wilton, are taking full advantage of the new rules.
Husband and Wife Russell and Lindsay Hudson run the dog friendly Silver Street café:
"Being able to open inside again is going to make a massive difference to our day to day business, just the fact that we don't have to watch the weather and juggle people between the few seats that we've got outside.
"Opening indoors means that we can accommodate so many more people. I think people are excited to get out and dine inside again, it's the first in months that they are meeting friends to sit inside for a bit of lunch.
"We've all been really excited about fully reopening, staff, the whole team, we're all just really looking forward to seeing our customers again inside, under cover, filling their face with coffee and cake."
"PLEASE STICK TO THE RULES"
With more restrictions being eased, there's a plea for people to continue sticking to the rules.
Wiltshire's public health director Kate Blackburn says the next few weeks are crucial in the country's fight against Covid-19.
She told Greatest Hits Radio:
"I think it is really good news that as a country we are in a position to move to that next step in the roadmap, at the moment the virus is staying a manageable and containable levels but that virus is still here and we need to make sure we are taking necessary steps to keep ourselves safe. The guidance is really now about people's choice, I think the big question is hugging and choosing whether or not you feel that it is appropriate to hug your family or your friends, that really is going to be people's responsibility and judgement however the government will still be providing advice and guidance and locally from the Public Health team we will be doing the same.
I think it's probably really important to think about what context you're in, are the people you're with been vaccinated because if somebody has had both of their vaccinations then they are probably at a lower risk from the virus but really it is about remembering where we've been in the last 12 to 15 months and not wanting to take a step backwards, so if we're meeting up with people inside keep the windows open, make sure that fresh air is circulating so any of that virus transmission has it's risk reduced and I cannot stress enough how important and easy having good hand hygiene is."
As we are now allowed inside with groups of up to 6, Kate says it's vital that we keep windows or doors open as it makes it a lot harder for the virus to spread.