The best UK rooftop bars and outdoor terraces to book this spring
With bars now open for outdoor service in England, these are the best to seek out
The Skylight Rooftop bar in London serves drinks with skyline views
Credit: Skylight Rooftop
When the weather gets warm and the sun comes out – or even, if conditions dictate, wrapped up in blankets in the snow – there are few things better than enjoying a drink on a rooftop bar or outdoor terrace.
Of course, in 2021, these spaces take on a special relevance as, along with pub gardens, they are among the first hospitality venues allowed to reopen from today, ahead of a broader indoor reopening on May 17.
With all that in mind, here is what you can and can t do from April 12:
Pubs
Pubs and restaurants are allowed to open and serve customers with outdoor service only.
This means that pub gardens and outdoor dining for restaurants can reopen. Everyone who visits will have to check in on the NHS s Test and Trace app and groups are limited to six people or two households.
However, scores of pubs and restaurants face confusion as Covid rules ease on April 12 after being told their outdoor seating spaces primed for reopening do not count as outdoors.
Drinkers have been urged to take cash to the pub with them, as poor rural broadband and mobile signal means card machines cannot be used in many pub gardens and the new guidelines ban establishments from taking payments indoors.
For business owners, Covid passports are not worth the risk or the hassle
The idea of carrying papers to prove we re vaccinated won’t work, won’t be secure and will prompt a backlash from customers
6 April 2021 • 5:00am
Your terraces are empty. The dance floor at your nightclub is covered in dust. The kit at your gym is getting rusty, and the clippers at your barber shop may well be lost by now. After month on month of lockdown, it is easy to understand why businesses will be rushing to try out the Government’s planned new Covid passports. After all, it will mean they can finally open their doors again, bring the staff off furlough and welcome back a few customers.
50 of the best British pubs with beer gardens to book right now
Beer gardens, terraces and all-weather marquees beckon from April 12. These top picks for al fresco refreshment will start the ball rolling…
Pubs opening will give us a chance to put our money, quite literally, where our mouths are
At long last, the tunnel of our confinement is very faintly aglow. After a truly brutal 12 months, the hospitality industry, or part of it, is on the point of being allowed to open again. Pubs in England with outdoor space may serve drinks and food from Monday 12 April; socially distanced indoor hospitality for groups of up to six people will be permitted on or after May 17.