6pm curfew placed on pubs, restaurants and cafes

From Friday, pubs, restaurants and cafes in Scotland will only be allowed to open indoors between the hours of 6am and 6pm, for the service of food and non-alcoholic beverages only.

Hotel restaurants will be allowed to remain open after 6pm, but only for residents. They will not be allowed to serve alcohol.

Pubs and restaurants will still be able open and serve alcohol outdoors up to the current curfew of 10pm.

These new restrictions, announced by the First Minister, today, Wednesday, will remain in place for 16 days.

There will be an exemption to these rules for occasions celebrating significant life events such as weddings and funerals.

The news came this afternoon, as Ms Sturgeon addressed the Scottish Parliament.

The new restrictions follow a sharp increase in cases over the past few weeks, with over 1,000 new cases of coronavirus confirmed by tests in Scotland, in the past 24 hours. There have now been over 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths in Scotland, to date, with 20 deaths in the past week — the highest weekly total since June.

Ms Sturgeon said that it was necessary to introduce these “difficult but temporary measures” in order to stem this increase in COVID cases.

These are:

• No alcohol to be served indoors at licensed premises
• Licensed premises may only open indoor areas between 6am and 6pm — for food and non-alcoholic beverages only
• Outdoor areas may remain open to 10pm and will be allowed to serve alcohol
• Hotel restaurants may remain open indoors after 6pm — but only for guests and with no alcohol served

The First Minister said: “None of this is easy, I am acutely aware that in every decision we take jobs and lives are at stake.

“I want to assure the chamber, and the country, that we do not take these decisions lightly.”

The Scottish Government has also placed even tighter restrictions on hospitality businesses within five health board areas in the central belt.

Yesterday, Ms Sturgeon assured the nation that we would not be returning to a “full lockdown,” but warned that restrictions were likely to increase in the coming days.

The First Minister has also been clear about which restrictions will not be tightening. She has confirmed that schools, colleges and universities will remain open, and that there will be no halt to the remobilisation of the NHS. Ms Sturgeon has also stated that we will not be asked to remain at home, as we were in March.