Pubs, bars, and restaurants will reopen across England and be subject to a revised tier system that will replace the current lockdown on December 3.
The system will be a tougher version of the restrictions in place before the second lockdown, though the 10pm hospitality curfew will be extended to 11pm.
Details are expected to be announced by Boris Johnson on Monday, November 23, and which areas are in which tiers will be released on Thursday, November 26.
Read more: What the new Covid tier system means for pubs, shops, and church services
Until December 2, pubs and restaurants remain closed, apart from for takeaways, click-and-collect, drive-through and delivery.
Different rules apply to the other nations of the United Kingdom.
Scotland operates under a five-level system of local restrictions. In the highest level, 4, non-essential shops, pubs and restaurants are shut until December 11. In Level 3 areas, hospitality businesses are banned from selling alcohol and must close by 6pm.
You can go to a Welsh pub or restaurant with up to three other people, from different households, excluding children aged under 11, who do not live with you. This is subject to face coverings and a 10pm curfew on alcohol sales.
Ministers in Northern Ireland have decided to close pubs and restaurants until December 10. Unlicensed cafe's are open until November 27, when they will also shut shop.
The previous three-tier system rules explained
Areas in the highest level faced the toughest restrictions. For pubs and bars in 'very high' level/tier three areas, this meant closures unless they could offer a substantial meal. Restaurants were allowed to stay open in these areas, but household mixing was banned.
In tier two/'high' level areas, multiple households were banned from mixing indoors, though the rule of six applied in outdoor environments, such as pub gardens. There was a 10pm curfew in place for pubs and restaurants in tier two areas.
What will happen after December 2?
Ministers will announce an "end of lockdown package" on November 23, which aims to allow a loosening of restrictions for Christmas and will introduce a new tier system.
Pubs and restaurants are expected to bear the brunt of the new tiers so that shops, cinemas and gyms can reopen.
Read more: How each lockdown tier will change under revamped Covid restrictions
Hospitality businesses in Tier 3 will only be allowed to offer takeaways, while those in Tier 2 will only be able to serve alcohol with “substantial meals” and will be restricted to own household and table service only.
In Tier 1 areas, pubs and restaurants allowed to reopen, including those which don’t serve meals but there will be table service only.
The measures – which are significantly tougher than under the previous tier system – were described as “catastrophic” by pub chiefs on November 22, with a warning that one million jobs are now on the line.
Rishi Sunak had argued for pubs and restaurants to be allowed to come out of the tier system on December 22 – two days before the tiers are suspended for Christmas – to help them to make up for previous losses, but he appears to have been overruled by Mr Johnson after scientific advisers claimed the hospitality sector was the weak link in suppressing the spread of coronavirus.
However, the 10pm curfew for hospitality will be scrapped, and instead last orders will be called at 10pm with an hour’s drinking up time before a new curfew time of 11pm.
