Pub owners and campaigners have hit out at the government's “nonsensical” decision to restrict the sale of takeaway alcohol during a second national lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new measures on Saturday in a delayed address to the nation in which it was revealed all but "essential" shops must close.

But publicans have warned the restrictions could mean beer left in pub cellars will have to be "tipped down the drain", with the industry's future prospects projected to follow suit.

It comes after official guidelines stated that although restaurants, bars and pubs must close from Thursday, food takeaway and delivery services are still permitted – but serving alcohol to take away is not.

Serving of takeaway beer was credited as providing a "lifeline" for struggling pubs during the first lockdown with many making ends meet on the back of sales.

John Brice, chairman of Medway’s Licensed Victuallers’ Association, is among those campaigners who has lobbied his local MPs to reverse the decision so pubs can sell takeway booze like before.

He said: "It is necessary for a number of reasons. One is they are already stocked with beer which won't last once open. So you have stocks that either have to be sold or thrown away.

"Secondly, you need to keep in touch with your customers – you need to have a contact with them and that is important.

Mr Brice, who owns both the Frog and Toad pub in Gillingham and the King George V pub in Brompton, added he felt it was "totally unfair" that supermarkets and corners shops could continue to sell alcohol but pubs could not.

"To many of them it was a lifeline, it really was important to just keep ticking over," he said.

"Pubs are already facing a really hard time prior to Covid – they have been closing at a rapid rate for many years. And so this is just another nail in the coffin of the pub."

"It is totally unfair – remember supermarkets have been announcing big profits if you look back at the financial pages.

"They have done incredibly well out of Covid, so why should they be able to benefit even more at the cost of the pub which is a huge part of the community."

Mr Brice said it had come as a shock to fellow publicans and LVA members who were expecting the same trade terms as last time.

"You can still sell food but it seems odd that you can come along and take your two meals away for your family yet you can't have some beer to take home with it... beer ale, cider whatever.

"Which means you've then got to make two journeys because if you want that you have got to go to the supermarket. It means there is an unnecessary journey there."

Asked whether customers congregating and consuming takeaway alcohol outside venues was a problem, Mr Brice replied: "It has to be sealed container anyway so you can't serve takeway in an open glass or container of any sort.

"I think that was just the sorting out element when people were unclear. Now it is absolutely clear so I don't think that should have been an issue this time."

James Calder, chief executive of the Society of Independent Brewers (Siba), said urgent clarification on sales restrictions was needed from the Government.

“As if a second national lockdown in England wasn’t disastrous enough for pubs and independent breweries, the Government has gone further this time around and introduced an unjustified restriction banning pubs from selling takeaway beer, a service which was the only source of income for many businesses during the summer lockdown,” he said.

“This is baffling considering supermarkets will presumably still be allowed to sell packaged beer, whilst small breweries and pubs will not.

Industry bodies UKHospitality (UKH), the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) understand the new rules to mean contactless deliveries are permitted but physical click and collect deliveries are not.

It has allowed some traders to "get creative" and adapt to the measures in a bid to ride out any economic fallout from the second lockdown.

Jamie Clark, co-landlord of The Dead Pigeon, in Rochester, adapted his business to cater for deliveries during the first lockdown and will be reverting back to the same business model once again.

"There is no reason for us to be encouraging people out if we have got the drivers there to deliver," he said.

"So we are going to up our drivers and just offer a delivery service. This we believe should not affect us hopefully."

He added: "We were one of the first pubs because we launched it a week before they locked us down."

"I think they locked us down on March 20, but we had already been doing it a week in anticipation there was probably going to be a lockdown.

"So when there was a lockdown we were in a really good position because we had everything, ironed out most the issues and were good to go."

Since reopening Jamie and his business partner Tom Mudge have continued to offer the service which they say has proven immensely popular.

The success of the move even led to them purchasing additional premises to bottle the beer and distribute the beer from.

Jamie said: "We are really lucky we have like a hard core base of people that follow us – about 11,000 across Instagram and Facebook."

He added many people had allocated a treat day where they purchase a pizza and order a deliver of one of their beers.

The pub landlord hopes they can continue to run the service during the latest lockdown phase and provide a sense of normality for their loyal client base.

"I feel the community support for a lot of local businesses has been really high so that is really good and hopefully it will continue."

Matt Taylor, of The Cellars Alehouse micropub in Maidstone, says he fears the move could "devastate the industry".

"In the last lockdown, the ability to sell take home beer in either cans, bottles or takeaway sealed containers kept us alive throughout," he said. and in touch with our customers and community.

"I'm not so worried about the effect on us, we have a marvellous landlord that has helped us throughout this, and I'm sure will continue to do so, but the effect on some of our more solitary regulars does concern me, we used to do a virtual pub on zoom once a week, will probably start that again.

"As for the industry as a whole, we only sell small brewery beer, and this plan eliminates an entire supply chain for month at least, I can't imagine it being anything less than devastating to them, and distributors as well, without a decent amount of government support, at least.

"I understand why it's been added, there was many examples over the summer of pubs selling by the pint in plastic glasses and people gathering on greens, squares, which I expect is what the government is trying to avoid, but a change of wording to allow sales in 'sealed containers' could save so, so many pubs and jobs."

The measures are set to be considered before Parliament on Wednesday before they are ratified ahead of the lockdown on Thursday.

They will see pubs, bars, restaurants and non-essential retail closed for four weeks, but schools, colleges and nurseries will remain open.

People will also be allowed to exercise and socialise in outdoor public spaces with their household or one other person.

It comes amid confusion over whether the measures could be extended beyond December 2, after Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove admitted they may need to be in place for longer.

Mr Johnson, who had been due to address the CBI annual conference today, will instead tell MPs the Government will “seek to ease” restrictions and return to the tiered system on December 2.

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