Ashby Micro-pub The Tap at No76 will be opening up for takeouts next month.

With the Government's Coronavirus guidelines suggesting that pubs will be the last venues to re-open even when lockdown restrictions are eased, the chances of being able to visit your local look slim before Christmas.

So the Tap at No 76 will be trying something different to get their business up and running again.

The pub plans to open for fresh cask takeouts from 12noon until 4pm for two days over the Bank Holiday weekend - May 8 and 9.

And if it is successful, then the Tap has other plans in the pipeline.

Kevin Elliott, managing director of Tollgate Brewery at Calke, which owns the Ashby pub, explained how things will work.

"When we shut our three pubs, every member of staff was furloughed, and then we did that for a month - but then you start think: 'What do we do next?," he said.

"It's quite clear that pubs are at the end of the queue.

"We've had our £10,000 grants for each of the three pubs, but that won't keep us going.

"While the Government's extend the job scheme until the end of June, we've had lots of customers ask us if we'll sell cask beer.

"Which is the one thing you cannot get hold of at the moment."

draught beer brewed and stored in the traditional way, maturing naturally in the cask

"So this is a toe in the water - and the Bank Holiday weekend was an obvious time to start.

"And we think people might want to drink then as well.

"We're getting everything ready and Jamie Traynor, our operations director is going to run it.

"He'll probably use one other member of staff, we'll be working safety with social distancing measures in place.

"And if it works - which we think it will - we have some plans as to how we can increase it and open up some of our other pubs, plus see what other things we can do."

Cask is draught beer brewed and stored in the traditional way, maturing naturally.

Tollgate also runs two other micro-pubs in Duffield in Derbyshire Town Street Tap and Queens Road, Leicester Queens Road Tap

Kevin admits that, with the Government strongly hinting that pubs will be last on the list of venues to open, these are tough times.

"It's not what you'd hope for clearly," he said.

"We go shut quite quickly, and once we'd done the garden and painted the houses, you get a chance to reflect and say 'We have to make the best of this'.

"We have to go forwards. We're lucky in that we're a small, independent brewery, in a town of big producers so we think we're a bit more flexible and can move a bit quicker.

"We have to start somewhere. It puts a few pounds in the bank, but we have a team who don't want to sit around doing nothing for the next six months.

"For your own sanity you have to start doing things.

"And we can maybe kick the brewery back into life - and brew some beer again. We're learning as we go."