As the UK enters its third national lockdown pubs have been forced to close again and this time there is a ban on selling takeaway pints.

Since entering Tier 4 pubs in Bracknell have been forced to close and although the Government’s one-off ‘top-up’ grants for closed businesses has helped pubs, there are concerns the money will not be enough.

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Many are worried that if pubs remain closed into March or even April, that the sums per week will be completely inadequate to stop hardship and closures.

Dave Richardson from Bracknell Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said: “It seems what is given with one hand is taken away with the other. Any kind of cash grant is welcome obviously. The bigger pubs will probably be able to get through till spring without too much extra pain, but the smaller ones with less rateable value will get a few thousand pounds in grants, but this will not even make up for the Christmas trade they lost.”

The recent ban on takeaway pints has been a blow for punters and pub owners, especially small pubs where alcohol sales is their main source of income.

Mr Richardson argued that there will always be a few that will take the takeaway pints and socialise outside with a group but said the vast majority of people just go home and drink in peace.

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He said: “It is another blow to pubs; it is just not necessary. It is handing power to the supermarkets; it is already a great deal cheaper to buy beer at supermarket. People are still going to drink one way or the other.”

It is not just the pubs suffering; breweries are also struggling to keep their businesses afloat. Mr Richardson said: “Breweries do not qualify for this cash grant and they are not being forced to close in the same way as pubs have. Many have closed or reduced their capacity. Breweries have lost 80 per cent of their sales. They have lost pub’s support, restaurants support, and they can’t get any cash.”

Breweries such as Windsor and Eton Brewery are offering a click and collect service once a week to help them survive.

Dermot King is the landlord of the The Royal Foresters in Ascot. The pub managed to reopen in July but now it is closed and is not serving takeaways.

The Chief Executive of pub and restaurant group, Oakman Inns, who runs the local Ascot pub, said he will happily forego the £250,000 grant if he allows National Health Trusts to use his pub venues as vaccination centres.

Mr King said: “The entire hospitality industry is desperate to re-open as quickly as possible before we have huge scale redundancies across the sector. "Clearly, the money offered by the Chancellor yesterday would help us in the short-term, but realistically the only way all of us can get back to normal is to get the country vaccinated. We would rather let the Government keep their hand-out to invest it in using hospitality venues as vaccination centres for the greater good of all."