Brits rush to reopened beer gardens and restaurants despite rain and snow

The day pubs and restaurants in England reopened coincided with atrocious weather, but Brits weren’t going to let snow get in the way.

Nothing was going to get between thirsty Brits and a pint or a meal after four months of lockdown – not even driving rain or snow flurries.

On Monday, shops, gyms and outdoor dining areas in pubs and restaurants reopened across England following a dramatic fall in coronavirus cases.

Pubs in the other parts of the UK – Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – will reopen their gardens for outdoor drinking over the coming weeks.

Unfortunately for those in England eager for a big glass of warm ale, the weather had other ideas.

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A drinker at The Still and West pub in Portsmouth, England on the first day of pubs reopening in England. It did indeed rain. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

Drinkers came prepare for the inclement weather. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

Despite the assumption by some that Britain is always on the cool side, the cold snap that swept across the islands this week has been very much out of the ordinary.

The Met Office, the UK’s meteorological agency, said “unusually chilly air” from the Arctic was streaming towards the UK which would see temperatures plummet to -8C in some areas, just a few weeks out from summer.

London peaked at just 9C on Monday, the first day people could drink socially again. Overnight it dropped below freezing in the capital.

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Diners ignored the snow to tuck in to a meal in Cranleigh, Surrey. Picture: Yangaz Bistro Grill

Flurries of snow were experienced across the south east of England in counties including Berkshire and Kent as well as London.

Nonetheless people happily munched on alfresco kebabs in Surrey as the white stuff fell all around them and took their umbrellas to beer gardens in Hampshire.

UK newspaper The Times spoke to customers drinking lager in the cold morning air at the Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate, Kent.

Pippa Ingram was in one of England’s biggest beer gardens. “Absolutely delicious,” she said. “It’s not going to last long at all.”

The UK has been one of the nations hit hardest by COVID-19 with 4.3 million cases and 127,000 deaths attributed to the virus.

At the peak in early January, the UK recorded 68,000 infections in a single day. It’s now regularly seeing below 3000. While that number might send much of Australia into lockdown, in Britain it’s low enough to see lockdown restrictions ease.

First beers at The Angel on the Bridge pub in Henley on Thames, west of London. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Pubs are still yet to open in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. (Photo by Hugh Hastings/Getty Images)

Naomi Bailey-Carpenter from St Ives in Cornwall, enjoys a drink at the Working Boat pub in Falmouth. (Photo by Hugh Hastings/Getty Images).

Some pubs opened at midnight for those who couldn't wait until Monday evening. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images).

Non-essential shops also reopened with big queues to get into fashion retailer Primark in Liverpool. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP).

Britain’s confidence has been bolstered by its success in rolling out vaccines. Close to 40 million shots have been administered with more than half the population having got at least one jab which provides a level of protection. Around 12 per cent of people have been fully vaccinated.

However, an outbreak of a more vaccine resistant strain of COVID-19, first found in South Africa, in parts of south London has led to “surge testing” to be introduced.

Authorities have urged locals surged to get swabbed and use using home testing kits to try to contain any spread.