GREENE King has confirmed which of its Cheshire pubs will reopen outdoors from next month – but the list does not feature any in Chester and Ellesmere Port.

The pub chain will reopen 28 of its managed pubs across the county from Monday, April 12, which includes The Bears Paw beer garden in Frodsham.

A total of 442 pubs are being reopened outdoors in England by Greene King – amounting to just under a third of its managed pub estate.

None of their managed Chester or Ellesmere Port pubs will be reopening next month.

That includes Watergates Bar, George & Dragon, Bromfield Arms and The Peacock in Chester, as well as the Grace Arms in Ellesmere Port.

Greene King's tenanted pubs, which make up a further 875 establishments, will decide on an individual basis whether to reopen their outdoor areas.

The Dublin Packet in Chester and the Bunbury Arms in Stoak are the tenant-run pubs in our area, Greene King confirmed.

Chief executive Nick Mackenzie said: “It’s great that we can finally open outdoor areas in some of our pubs after such a long period of lockdown and we can’t wait to start welcoming our customers back, safely.

“Sadly, we can only open around a third of our estate in April where we have outdoor space that will work and have a chance of being viable, but we know the vital role pubs play in communities and feel it’s important to open as many as we can to help people get back together once again.

“We look forward to May when we can open many more of our pubs, and the all-important return to normality in June when the restrictions are fully removed, and we can start to rebuild our businesses.

"Until then, we all have our fingers crossed for sunshine and warm temperatures in April!”

Customers can book a garden table online from Friday, March 26, although people will also be able to visit the pub outdoors without an advance booking.

The pubs reopening in Cheshire are:

  • Bears Paw (Frodsham)
  • Blacksmiths Arms (Macclesfield)
  • Blue Cap (Sandiway)
  • Brocklehurst Arms (Tytherington)
  • Butchers Arms (Great Sankey)
  • Carousel (Reddish)
  • Chapelford Farm (Great Sankey)
  • Church View Inn (Lunts Heath)
  • Evenwood Farm (Runcorn)
  • Golden Fleece (Lymm)
  • Governors House (Cheadle Hulme)
  • Griffin (Bold Heath)
  • Griffin (Bowdon)
  • Hare & Hounds Inn (Hyde)
  • Ladybrook (Bramhall)
  • Lodge (Northwich)
  • Mulberry Tree Inn (Stockton Heath)
  • Observatory (Widnes)
  • Plough (Houghton Green)
  • Ring O' Bells (Daresbury)
  • Stonemasons Arms (Timperley)
  • Swan (Winwick)
  • Thorn Inn (Appleton)
  • Unicorn (Wilmslow)
  • Waggon & Horses (Handforth)
  • Waterside (Warrington)
  • White Hart (Cheadle)
  • Woodside (Crewe)