Washington businesses start making plans to reopen after roadmap announcement

Kayleigh Hankinson of Olivia's Coffee House is among those looking forward to reopening

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a ‘cautious’ reopening in stages, giving hope to businesses across the country for reopening on April 12.

As well as announcing the potential reopening of retail, leisure, hair and beauty and outdoor hospitality on April 12, the PM went on to announce a full reopening for hospitality by May 17 at the earliest and a possible end to social distancing measures by June 21.

The road out of lockdown will take place over four months and dates will be dependent on four tests - vaccine deployment, evidence the vaccine is successful, low infection rates and assessments of new variants.

Washington business owners react to Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown

The news has been welcomed by a number of hospitality businesses in Washington, who are ready and waiting to welcome customers back after months of being closed.

Kayleigh Hankinson, owner of Olivia’s Coffee House said: “We’re going to have to decide what’s best for us and see if we should serve from outside or wait for a full reopening but we’re really happy we now have a set date to look forward to and get ready for. It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

Should the tests continue to be met, residents could be back at pubs, albeit outside, by April too.

Joanne Wood, Manager of the Wheelhouse Pub said: “We’re planning on opening the beer garden on the twelfth. I’m just happy we have a date to work toward and to get back to work. We just want to open and get trading again to get things back to the way they were.

"I think people will still be wary of social distancing but we plan on making sure everything is as safe as possible.”

Lee Jobling, owner of The Victoria Inn, said: “It’ll be great to get open and get things going again, if it’s safe to end social-distancing in June that would be even better. We’d love to open even sooner but we’ve got this far and we have to make sure it’s all done right this time.”

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