Form an orderly queue - boozers and barbers in Sheffield adapt to a new regime

And standing boozing in a group which welcomes friends on their own nights out - along with hugs and kisses and hearty ‘hail fellow well met’ backslaps which grow louder and more boisterous and more emotional as the night goes on - all that is finished, sadly.

Some of Sheffield’s pubs are back open but the giddiness has been replaced by a more orderly and more organised, if not more sober, approach that can best be thought of as ‘European’.

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Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers reopened on ‘Super Saturday’ but with a host of restrictions that, for the boozers at least, could change the face of drinking forever.

They have had to follow 40 pages of guidance. Customers must book a table and give their names, while staff have been drilled in handwashing and hygiene.

Making money with a third fewer tables but more staff to serve at them is for the bosses to work out.

True North Brew Co employs 400 at 12 venues in Sheffield and Barnsley. It reopened five on Saturday, including The Forum, with more to follow once the new regime has bedded in.

Scores have staff have been unfurloughed. But boss Kane Yeardley says it is only the start and tough times lie ahead.

The company has lost ‘hundreds of thousands’ during four months of lockdown. Now it is faced with an expensive new regime and a third off revenues.

He said: “It’s been tough but we’ve been careful with finances. There have been no redundancies but we will have to see how trade is. The world has changed. The new culture is more European.”

On Saturday, it was ‘a bit wild’ at the Riverside at Kelham Island due to big groups of lads attempting to circulate in the old way.

But elsewhere people got into the swing of pre-booking tables at different venues at different times so they could pub crawl in the new style.

Kane added: “The big loss is vertical drinking but it’s early days. We’ve got a long way to go. It’s still daunting.”

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Elsewhere Thornbridge reopened four of its six pubs: The Stags Head, The Greystones, The Coach and Horses and The Cross Scythes.

Measures included table service, hand sanitisers, cashless payments only, one-way systems, single-use menus, screens, groups no larger than six and a toilet queuing system.

Simon Walkden, chief operating officer, said: “There was a lot of planning during the period of lockdown to ensure that, when we were able to open our pubs again, we could do so in accordance with all of the government guidance. Our teams have worked extremely hard over recent weeks to get ready for that moment. First and foremost, we have to protect our staff and our customers, but we also need to provide them with an enjoyable experience when they come back to visit us.”

In contrast, hairdressers had it a bit easier.

Allen’s Classic Barbers opened for the first time, on Super Saturday, at Bents Green shops on Ringinglow Road.

The timing was perfect for manager Shwan Hama, aged 26, who had to deal with a rush of shaggy-maned men.

Not for him the slog of building a new business through word of mouth and advertising, as an unprecedented, and possibly never to be repeated, stream of customers tipped up at the shop.

Restrictions meant only three were allowed in at once, one in the chair and one on each of the sofas. But seven-days-a-week opening until 7pm (5.30pm on Sunday) is helping to ease demand.

The shop also benefits from free parking and the row is a hub of activity, with a convenience store, butchers, sandwich shop, Chinese takeaway and chemist.

Unsurprisingly Shwan has plans to hire, four hairdressers including a womens, and change the seating to allow more customers to wait socially-distanced inside.

He had been a partner in a barbers in Maltby for two years but sold his share just before lockdown. He then spotted the empty unit at Bents Green and was ready to go the moment the green light was given.

He said: “It’s been non-stop literally all day. I wear a mask which I change every day, it’s hot and I can’t breathe very well.

“We’ll definitely continue to be busy, it’s a great location.”

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Customer Ian Cosford resisted his daughter’s suggestions to let his wife cut his hair. Consequently it blew in his eyes.

“It’s been a nuisance, I’ve had to walk very carefully.”

His classic, ‘medium back and sides’ left him feeling like a new man.

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