And it would appear from my reading of the legislation, as opposed to the guidance, that takeaway alcohol from pubs IS allowed.
The crucial part which affects the sale of takeaway alcohol from pubs is paragraph 9(a) on page 4, which reads:-
Comparing these amendments with the original regulations and applying the amendments above (in bold) gives you:-
If you then refer to Paragraph (2) (a) it reads
In plain English I think this means:-
- You can sell food and soft drinks between 05:00 and 23:00 by operating as if you were a shop. ie – people can walk in off the street and make a purchase without ordering in advance
- If you want to sell food and soft drinks between 23:00 and 05:00, orders must be made via click & collect, telephone or post
- If you want to sell alcohol at any time (subject to permitted licensing hours), orders must be made via click & collect, telephone or post.
Either the government is trying to discourage the sale of takeaway alcohol by pubs, without banning it altogether, or the people drafting the guidance and legislation are incompetent, with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. My money is on the latter.
Boris Johnson is famously known for "not doing detail", which is a pretty damning indictment for a Prime Minister, so I doubt whether he had any involvement in any of this.