Up to two thirds of West End set to reopen to drinkers and diners on £50 million 'Super Saturday'

Thousands of London restaurants, pubs, cafes and bars will welcome customers in for the first time in more than three months tomorrow in a £50 million “Super Saturday” bonanza.

Up to two thirds of West End premises — and possibly as many as 80 per cent in hotspots such as Covent Garden — are planning for a huge “reopening night” after the hospitality industry was given the green light.

However across London as a whole only about half of sites are expected to return to trading on the first day, with many diners and drinkers reluctant to return.

Restrictions will include two- or three-hour reservation slots in pubs, table service only, with different groups spaced at least one metre apart, strictly enforced queueing systems and one-way arrows on the floor.

Payment will be cashless and customers will have to leave full contact details with the venue for 21 days.

Boris Johnson urged people to “enjoy summer sensibly” and urged: “Let’s not blow it now, folks.” Speaking on LBC, he added: “I hope very much that people will behave responsibly.”

He also defended reopening pubs on a Saturday rather than a weekday when they may have been less busy, saying: “We thought about this carefully. We wanted to give pubs time to prepare, we wanted a date early in July.”

The Prime Minister also said gyms would be able to reopen in a “couple of weeks”, and vowed to try to get theatres going “as fast as we possibly can”.

Baton Berisha, managing director of Richard Caring’s restaurant group Caprice Holdings, said restaurants such as Sexy Fish, Daphne’s and Scott’s would open at around 60 per cent of normal capacity with “incredibly fast” thermal detection cameras in the reception areas.

He said bookings for tables at the Ivy Chelsea Garden, which has one of central London’s largest outdoor dining spaces, for the first week of reopening had been “as great as before and higher than capacity. People can’t wait to go out.”

Brian Bendix, chief executive of Billionaire Life, owners of Sumosan Twiga, said the Knightsbridge restaurant and club had gone from “no reservations to almost fully booked” in just 24 hours after the July 4 date was confirmed.

In an open letter published on the Standard’s website today, Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Please go out and support London’s brilliant local businesses and cultural attractions. But remember that lives are still at stake. Please stick to the rules, act responsibly and stay safe.”

Westminster council leader Rachael Robathan said: “It’s been a long time coming — but tomorrow night let’s raise the curtain and show the world London is back in business.