Brewery opens drive-thru for Brits to pick up beer without leaving cars

The meticulously-designed operation means staff hand over kegs and bottles without ever coming closer than 2 metres to customers.

A brewery has started a drive-through takeaway service for customers to pick up beer without making contact with staff.

Nottingham-based Castle Rock Brewery came up with the plan after its 22 pubs around the country were closed by the lockdown.

Punters can make orders via their online shop and can pick up casks and mini kegs ‘poured freshly from the brewery’ as well as bottled beers, the brewery’s website states.

The system avoids breaking social distancing rules by having customers enter their car registration number online and opening their boots for staff to load their beer in themselves.

Castle Rock says it has ‘undertaken an extremely thorough risk assessment’ and ‘developed a rigorous health and safety procedure’ including a skeleton staff wearing new gloves for each transaction while washing their hands in between.

The brewery says senior bosses have taken pay cuts to pay for a ‘hardship fund’ supporting staff through the outbreak.

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It vowed to make sure all staff get 80 per cent of their salary by paying from company accounts if funds from the government furlough scheme do not arrive in time.

A pot of money has also been set aside for employees ‘should they need it in an emergency.’

The company said it had managed to raise the fund internally thanks to ‘early pay sacrifices of some senior staff and a meticulous set of accounts’ but thanked patrons for also donating hundreds of pounds via their Gofundme page.

Managing director Colin Wilde announced just before the lockdown that he would take home no more than the minimum wage during the crisis.

He told Nottinghamshire Live last week: ‘The Covid-19 pandemic will have a huge and lasting impact on how businesses operate in the future.

‘We’ve learned lessons and have had ideas that we intend to apply indefinitely and that includes this hardship fund, meaning eligible members of the Castle Rock family will always have access to a small pot of money should they need it in an emergency.

‘We can expand on this as matters arise, but I sincerely hope it becomes a permanent fixture in how we look after our colleagues.’

Mr Wilde added: ‘We’re certainly not out of the woods. There remains a lot of uncertainty ahead, and we’re still expecting to have to make some difficult decisions.’

The government lockdown measures allow licensed retailers to continue selling alcohol.

Planning rules have also been relaxed to allow pubs and restaurants to operate as hot food takeaways during the outbreak.

Pubs around the country have found early success with deliveries as locals seek out the comfort and familiarity of pub classics.

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