Pub landlords in the borough have been advised they can offer a beer home delivery service to residents without falling foul of lockdown laws.

The call has come from council bosses keen to support businesses who have been hit by the shutdown. This industry has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, with pubs forced to shut their doors since March last year save for a couple of months in the summer.

Landlords are currently not allowed to open their doors or sell alcohol on the premises and, with the ongoing restrictions now to set to last until at least March, it has led to fears some may not re-open at all.

Council chiefs are reminding pub owners that wish to offer a home delivery service as a potential source of income until premises are allowed to open their doors again that they can do so, without obtaining an off-license. Councillor Simon Phipps, cabinet member for commercial and customer services, said:

"Licensed pubs are able to provide take-out alcohol via sealed containers through the Business and Planning Act 2020 – but only if it is given to the customer off the premises. The current restrictions are clear that people cannot visit pubs to collect alcohol from their local for the time being.

"But there would be nothing to prevent pubs offering a contact free, home delivery service to their customers if they wanted to. Given some of these pubs may not currently have an off-license, we want to let them know that this has been permitted by Government legislation.

"It could provide valuable income to help keep them going until the doors re-open properly, which hopefully won’t be too much further away now.

"As a council we will support them in any way we can, as we have done so far by handing out thousands of pounds worth of grants to our valued pubs and bars."

Dudley Business First is offering help and support for businesses impacted by coronavirus. For more information, you can visit dudleybusinessfirst.org.uk.