The changes will allow alcohol to be served without the purchase of a main meal as is required in level two, which Dumfries and Galloway was placed in at the beginning of November.
Furthermore, customers will be able to sit inside until 10.30 pm – two and a half hours later than the previous curfew.
Annan’s Blue Bell Inn is preparing to reopen for the first time since Friday October, 9 when hospitality restrictions were tightened.
The pub’s landlady, Charmaine Kerr, said she was “surprised” upon hearing the first minister’s announcement on Tuesday, adding: “I thought we’d be closed until after new year.”
Discussing her preparations for the weekend, she said: “We’ve managed to get our stock okay so we’ve not had any problems getting any deliveries in, so that’s been quite good.
“We do a lot of cask ales so we’ve been having a bit of difficulty getting them at short notice but we have got some.
“We’re doing a table booking service at the moment for anybody who wants to guarantee a seat and we’ve had a lot of enquiries already, and we’re actually getting enquiries for Christmas and New Year as well, so that’s really good.”
Charmaine added that staff are particularly pleased music will once again be allowed in the pub. “Even a bit of background music makes such a difference,” she said. “It was like sitting in a library before, whereas now at least we’ll be able to put a bit of Christmas music on and get everybody gee’d up and into the Christmas spirit.”
Further commenting, Stephen Montgomery, owner of Lockerbie’s Townhead Hotel and the spokesperson for the Scottish Hospitality Group said: “I think it’s fair to say we’re pleased to get down to level one, it’ll give us a bit of hope getting through the Christmas period but it has to be just that because in January we’ll face a lot more issues.
“Yes everybody wants to get together for Christmas, we know that, but I think we’ve come so far now it’d be a shame to ruin it, especially now that we’re in tier one; if people aren’t careful we could find ourselves back in tier three. That would do no one good, whether it be mental health, businesses or anything, it would just be catastrophic.”
He added: “Praise has to be given to everybody in Dumfries and Galloway at the same time for getting us down to level one so quick.”
