Sheffield provides cafes with barriers in order to encourage outdoor seating

The City Council’s barriers will be used to separate on-street seating from pedestrians walking near the cafes

With cafes in Sheffield heading to the streets and expanding their business areas in newly created pedestrian spaces, the need has arisen for additional measures to put distance between customers and people that are just walking by. The latest project launched by the Sheffield City Council is the provision of barriers that serve precisely that purpose and which can be set up by any business-owners who feel like they need them.

Creative thinking forced by the pandemic

With the lifting of many lockdown restrictions in the UK, cafes have been slowly restarting their operations. In Sheffield, the expansion to newly set-up pedestrian spaces has been a great boon for business-owners as they have to comply with strict social distancing and hygiene measures. Thus, the new spaces have grown into an integral part of the operations of many of the city’s enterprises.

The new barriers that are being provided by the Sheffield City Council are yet another way to make these spaces safer and more welcoming. They are brightly coloured so as to be more accommodating to visually impaired persons and also serve the purpose of beautifying the areas they are set up in.

The launch of this new project complements the already existing Pavement Café scheme launched up by Sheffield’s local authorities, which allowed for many businesses (not limited only to the hospitality and catering sectors) to request temporary licenses to make use of their outdoor spaces.

Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Business and Investment at Sheffield City Council, stated that “We want to do all we can to support our local businesses in reopening following the Coronavirus lockdown. Making the most of outside space is a huge factor in both complying with social distancing guidelines and maximising trading potential.

“Our new café barriers are part of our campaign to encourage more people to enjoy our city once again whilst constantly raising awareness of the need for social distancing and behaving in a safe manner for everyone.. However, we have already seen high demand for the barriers, so I’d encourage businesses to request one as soon as possible to make the most of the summer weather!”