Ready to serve: more than three quarters of hospitality businesses say they can reopen by 4 July

Moreover, if hospitality businesses did get the go ahead to reopen sooner, one in four (26%) say they can be up and running within two weeks and one in five (19%) could reopen in a matter of days, according to the poll of 400 founders or board level operators across restaurants, pubs and food to go businesses.

Only16% of hospitality businesses  think it will take longer than the four weeks between now and 4 July.

The figures echo the views of a number in the sector who have been calling for an earlier reopening of the hospitality sector, following the Government’s easing of lockdown that has seen businesses including car showrooms and Ikea allowed to reopen their doors.

Peter Borg-Neal, chief executive of Oakman Inns, has called on the Government to let pubs begin trading where it is safe to do so following hot weather over the weekend that led to numerous people drinking in public parks across the country.

Writing on Twitter he said: “We have a pub called The Beech House in Beaconsfield which is closed. People are buying takeaway beer from across the road and consuming it in our garden. If I was open they would be supervised and provided with hand sanitisation.”

In a later post he added: “We are ready to run a Covid safe pub but instead people are at greater risk.”

Hospitality Union’s Jonathan Downey is also calling on the Government to allow businesses to reopen now in a safe and phased way.

The poll also revealed what operators believe will be the cost of implementing safety measures, with 31% thinking each site would cost up to £1,000 to get ready, 23% of operators thinking it will cost between £2,000 and 3,000 per site to reopen, and 15% thinking it would cost more.