As London's restaurants reopen after the lockdown, we take a look here and around the world at some of the industry's more creative solutions to the new normal of social distancing. 

Are we within weeks of seeing the UK's restaurants and pubs reopening? That's the considered opinion of The Financial Times which, over the weekend, reported that Ministers have identified June 22 as a potential date to reopen them and 'save the summer'.

Key to that would be the existence of some sort of alfresco element with

How will London's restaurant scene survive Covid? Actually, will it survive Covid? That's the question being asked by more and more restaurant, bar and pub operators, as the prospect of opening with a potential 2m social distancing rule looms.

But rather than buckle under the weight of such restrictions, one London area has decided to fight for its future. The Soho Summer Street Festival campaign aims to pedestrianise Soho for the summer, allowing

8/4/20 - Update - after temporarily closing, the Darby's hatch is now up and running again.

Down in Vauxhall, Robin Gill and his team at Darby's are opening their hatch, having turned the restaurant into a baker/butcher/deli and wine shop in response to the Covid crisis.

"We have wonderful ingredients that we do not want to go to waste," Gill wrote on Instagram, "given that the supermarket shelves are

We all know how tough it is in the restaurant business right now, so we're sad to be reporting the demise of Mark Hix's restaurant empire.

The news was broken by The Telegraph over the weekend, which revealed that all of Hix's London restaurants would be closing, along with

It's sad to witness any businesses closing their doors during the London lockdown. But seeing landmark hotels, which had remained open throughout both world wars, battening the hatches seemed somehow worse.

So we were thoroughly cheered to see the story in today's Standard about the reopening of Claridge's hotel to NHS workers. The folks at the Maybourne Hotel Group told Hot Dinners they'd "asked the teams across Claridge’s, The

Now that the whole of London is stuck indoors, it's up to the city's food shops to do the heavy lifting. We've gathered together some of London's best butchers, cheesemongers, grocers and more making home deliveries during the lockdown. 

Obviously, there aren't and festivals happening right now - particularly beer festivals. But that isn't stopping beer delivery service Beer 52. They're launching a virtual beer festival, Cyber Fest, where you can drink along at home. 

You'll be able to order the beers in advance (12 of them) and the virtual festival takes place between 6 and 10pm on 17 April, live-streamed online. There will be virtual, back-to-back tastings and

In a crisis like this we all have to work together, which is just what Patty & Bun and top butcher HG Walter are doing. They've launched The Lockdown DIY Patty Kit to enable you to make Patty & Bun burgers at home.

There are three boxes available with the ingredients to make two classic P&B burgers - the Ari Gold and the Smokey Robinson. All you'll need to do is provide the lettuce and tomato.

For £25 you'll

So, we're on lockdown. We knew it was coming and, last night, Boris finally delivered.

What does this mean for London's restaurants and cafes? In the immediate aftermath of the latest government announcement, many of the restaurants that were in the process of moving to delivery decided to close their doors for the foreseeable future. In many cases, they were worried about further changes and also for their staff.

But the one thing that the prime