Covid 19 - Government has issued guidance around payments being taken indoors

The Government have today (at 9.53am) issued updated guidance around payments being taken indoors at licensed premises.

The full guidance can be found here: 2.3 Managing service of food and drink at a venue.

The relevant paragraph is at 2.3.2 “Service at the venue” which states as follows;

“2.3.2 Service at the venue

Objective: To manage interactions at the venue resulting from service of food and drink in outdoor services areas.

At venues serving alcohol, customers are required to order, be served and eat/drink while seated (even if no alcohol is ordered). You should take payment at the table or at another outdoor location. If it’s not possible to take payment outdoors, for example due to a technical issue, you can take payment indoors as a last resort. If you need to take payment indoors the customer should wear a face covering unless exempt, you should ensure only one customer is indoors at any time for the purpose of making payment, and you should operate a tab system to ensure that customers do not need to make multiple indoor payments during their time at the venue.

At venues that do not serve alcohol, customers are able to order and collect food and drink from a counter but must consume food and drink while seated at a table.”

This is undoubtedly useful clarification and does allow for payments to be taken inside premise in restricted circumstances from 12^th April.