Pubs in the West Dorset area are preparing to reopen despite knowing little of the conditions they will be reopening under.

Hospitality venues across the country have been working towards a tentative reopening date of July 4 as part of phase three of the government’s plan to reopen businesses.

Talk around the industry is that pubs will likely be opening with an increased emphasis on outdoor seating and table service.

There is also likely to be many social distancing procedures in place, such as separate entrances and exits, two metres between tables and customers will not be able to stand at the bar.

However, the government is yet to issue any guidelines nor an official opening date for the hospitality industry.

Lesley Waring, land lady at The Knapp in Beaminster, said: "We're still a bit in limbo at the moment.

“We’re waiting to hear what we are actually allowed to do before we start spending money on reopening.

"We don't have much outside space so it's not going to be viable for us to open just with outside space.

"If the government do reduce the distance to one metre, it doubles the amount of people we can have in the venue.

"We're not making any decisions yet. We'll wait to see what the guidelines are, and we'll go from there.

"I've got a lot of thirsty customers who need a drink.”

There has been calls within the hospitality industry for the government to reduce the two-metre distancing rule to allow for more customers. If the restrictions stay as they are, it will not be financially viable for several smaller pubs to reopen.

Graham Taylor, landlord at the Tiger Inn in Bridport, said: “The hospitality industry is putting pressure on the government. It has to be one metre otherwise I just can't see how's it's going to work.

“Unlike shops where people are just popping in for 20 minutes, people will be in pubs for a couple of hours.

“And they will be drinking alcohol, so once they've had a couple of drinks they'll start to become a bit more sociable.

“That is an issue which will need to be addressed.

“It's only two and a half weeks away, so we already don't have much time to prepare and we can't make the correct preparations until we know what we have to do.”