PUB PASSPORTS TO SPELL LAST ORDERS

Fear cost of checking all drinkers’ jabs will see yet more boozers shut

MORE struggling local pubs will close down if drinkers are forced to show a certificate before they can order a pint, industry chiefs warn.

Covid passports could prove “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” for traditional boozers, sector insiders say.

The Government proposes making pubs, restaurants and nightclubs check the vaccination status of all customers from autumn before letting them in. The move was put forward as a way of boosting jab rates among the young.

Official figures show the take-up of first vaccines doses has halved in two weeks, to under 100,000 a day. Industry chiefs are furious they have been not been consulted about the passport plans.

The entertainment sector has been hit hard by the pandemic.

About 2,500 of the country’s 48,000 pubs are estimated to have closed for good as social distancing and tableservice-only restrictions make it hard to run at a profit.

One industry insider said: “We’ve not been part of any working group discussions on this. We’ve tried to engage with the Government on contingency plans for the winter but they have not engaged with us on any of their thinking.”

Dermot King, boss of the 35-strong Oakman Inns pub group, said it would be “a lot of administration and costly effort” for landlords.

He said: “It’s frustrating that the hospitality industry has been asked to do the Government’s job.

“It will be costly to implement because it involves putting people at the door.”

Mr King said traditional pubs that struggled to operate during the pandemic would be worst hit.

He added: “For these, it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

The British Beer and Pub Association warned there would be “significant push back” against the passports and said it hoped the successful vaccine rollout would avoid the need for them.