Tamworth pubs turn to high tech solution to prevent second lock-down

When the city's licensed premises reopened their doors yesterday after 70 days under COVID-19 quarantine, it was the biggest sign yet that Tamworth is slowly returning to normal.

But it was a different feel at craft beer brewery Welder's Dog, according to owner operator Ben Coombes.

"It's a bit like turning a bar more into a, I suppose, restaurant," he said.

"You've got to be greeted at the door, take people and usher them to their seats so we can best manage the space and hygiene, so we can clean down tables and things in between."

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Licenced establishments in NSW are also required to maintain a record of names and contact details for punters.

If there's a breakout of the deadly pandemic virus, the information would aid contact-tracing efforts by NSW Health.

The Welder's Dog is working on an electronic solution to achieve just that.

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"We're working on an app they've got to sort of link in with Facebook that will give people a live account of how many seats we've got available," said Mr Coombes.

"At the moment we're back to good old fashioned pen and paper. We've got a book that we call our COVID register and we've been recording people's details manually."

Pubs are also limited to one customer per 4 square metres with a cap of 50 people per separate area, whichever is smaller.

Bookings are limited to 10, and social mingling is discouraged.

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