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The government has backtracked on its plan to make everyone who visits a pub or restaurant to hand over their name and contact details.

Instead, only the lead member of a group of family or friends will have to give their name.

But they will have to say how many people are in the group.

Under the previous guidance, pubs were told they would have to keep a record of all their customers for 21 days after their visit.

Much of the hospitality industry, including pubs and bars, are due to reopen on Saturday.

The new guidance says the name of the customer should be collected by the venue, and adds: “If there is more than one person, then you can record the name of the ‘lead member’ of the group and the number of people in the group.”

Boris Johnson is due to hold a Downing Street press conference on Friday ahead of the unlocking of much of the country.

The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Thursday the government wanted people to be “able to enjoy themselves”.

“But at the same time, now we have got coronavirus under control we need to keep it under control,” they added.

“The PM has said that it is important that people don’t overdo it.” 

Pubs are set to looking quite different than before the lockdown came into force in March.

There will be no hanging out at the bar, with table service being encouraged to reduce the amount of interaction on shared surfaces.

The guidelines published last Wednesday also ban pubs and bars from hosting live performances, including drama, comedy and music, in front of a live audience.