Businesses and customers are starting to get used to life with Covid-19. From day one of lockdown, we followed the two-metre rule, washed and sanitised our hands dozens of times a day, and accepted queues and delays. Now, as most businesses have reopened, we are all adapting to working, shopping and dining out with social distancing as life starts to return to some sort of normality.

While on holiday in North Wales last week, we visited a local pub which has always served good food. It is spacious and has an outdoor seating area, which we thought would help with social distancing. 

We had to wait to be seated and found that all the tables were at least two metres apart and there were hand sanitisers everywhere. It was table service for food and drink and there was a one-way system to the loos. They really had thought of everything without affecting standards – the food was excellent as always and the staff were frequently back and forth with food and drinks.

In fact, I preferred it to the old system of queuing up at the bar to place your order. For purely selfish reasons, I would be happy to see it stay this way.

Social distancing must reduce the number of customers by half, but for me, it is worth it. We felt safe and were able to enjoy our meals – and kept coming back for more. When a group of people congregated near our table to look at the menus, staff swiftly but politely moved them a safe distance away. And the staff also said they were happy to come to work, knowing everything was being done to protect them.

From a business point of view, every landlord would want to have all their tables full and the bars packed, but safety was definitely top of the list here.

When you encounter measures like this, it makes you appreciate the lengths people are going to in order to remain open and keep their businesses going. It also means that those that are not as strict stand out like a sore thumb.

We went into a shop which also made social distancing as easy as possible. Despite this, the owner said staff had received abuse from a few customers who refused to wear masks, or observe the 1+-metre rule. He had no trouble suggesting they did their shopping somewhere else.

I think safety is the number-one thing people are looking for as they try to get their lives into some sort of routine. And the safety message is one all businesses need to shout about to reassure customers and clients. And it’s no good just saying do this or that – you have to be able to explain why you want someone to wear a mask, sanitise their hands on the way in and out, and maintain social distancing.

The economy will take a long time to recover, but businesses are reopening with a new focus and some are even introducing spin-off and complementary products and services which are attracting new customers.

And, while it is difficult to put your finger on exactly what it is, there is definitely a different feel to the current situation than previous recessions. It could be that as long as everyone feels safe, there is an optimism that everything else will follow on.