How Poetic License and Roker Hotel looks with new social distancing measures for opening next month

The seafront site encompasses many different aspects of hospitality, an industry which has been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic – a hotel, Let There Be Crumbs tearoom and Poetic License bar and distillery.

While the distillery was still able to operate during lockdown, where it produced hand santiser as well as supplying gin for supermarkets and online trade, the rest of the site had to grind to a halt in line with Government restrictions.

Now, it’s preparing to welcome guests and patrons for the first time in three months from 10am on July 4 after Boris Johnson gave the go ahead for pubs, cafes, restaurants, hotels and cinemas in England to reopen.

As part of its new social distancing measures, the front car park (there is still a substantial car park at the rear) has been grassed over with fake grass with a series of spaced out benches, a gazebo and canopies.

People can order from throwaway menus, which feature both Let There Be Crumbs and Poetic License dishes, and will be served by staff wearing masks or face visors.

Operations director Jonathan Graham says they’ll be aiming to try to create the pub atmosphere everyone knows and loves while also being safe.

“We reckon we’ve got the best beer garden view in Sunderland, with unrivalled views of the beach and Roker Pier and we can’t wait to welcome people back,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of heaters in case of cold weather and we’ll be hosting live music to help bring the Poetic License atmosphere from inside outside.

“In terms of safety, we really have gone to the nth degree. Each table will have a bottle of Poetic License hand sanitiser and, although usually we don’t like to use throwaway items for environmental purposes, we’ll be having throwaway menus and sachets of salt and pepper instead of condiments which lots of people will have touched.

“We’ve even spaced out the urinals in the men’s toilets. It’s really important people feel safe while still enjoying coming to the pub.”

A number of city businesses have voiced concerns on the two-metre rule which ran through lockdown in Britain, a metre more than the World Health Organisation’s guidance of one metre.

“Reducing the social distancing guidance from two metres to one metre is crucial to our survival,” explained Jonathan.

As well as the Poetic License distillery proving popular in lockdown, its sister brewery S43 in Coxhoe, Durham has been selling cans of beer in droves.

It hit the headlines last week when it received a warning letter from Mars over its “You’re Not You When You’re Thirsty” peanut butter stout, a deliberate play on the Snickers advert, a brand owned by Mars.

Tavistock Hospitality were told to stop using the name, but got around it by renaming the sweet stout as The One We Can’t Talk About.

It comes as the Echo is running its #SupportLocal campaign in a bid to encourage people to shop local.

See our guide to some of the other Sunderland beer gardens here.

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