Say goodbye to loud music and sharing nibbles and pitchers with your friends on nights out, the COVID-19 mitigation measures for bars and clubs (which were released a few hours before they reopened, mind you) have been released and they’re definitely going to change how we experience nightlife.

Some bad news for music heads: only low music volumes will be allowed in order to avoid the need to talk loudly and lean towards each other and prevent transmission of respiratory droplets between patrons.

Also, a two-metre acrylic or tempered glass structure must be installed around the reception area, bar counter and the DJ or singers/bandstand. That means no more crowd surfing.

Oh, and no bar service either. Customers can sit up to six people per table and service is by table only. In bars and clubs, the total maximum amount of patrons is 75, but this varies according to how large their indoor spaces are.

When it comes to shared nibbles and big pitchers with multiple straws, these are no longer permitted with the new measure in place. I guess we’re all drinking our own pitchers now and getting our own portions of nibbles.

Contact details of one person per table should be kept for all groups by date and time of arrival, going back 4 weeks. And whilst patrons do not have to wear masks or visors inside, staff are expected to.

You can read the full guidelines for bars and clubs here.

What do you think of these measures?