London

Pubs in Penge, south-east London, had started filling up well before the prime minister’s announcement that they must close down – and no one showed signs of leaving.

The high street, where there are six pubs, still had five open as Boris Johnson addressed the nation. There were surreal scenes as the big-screen televisions beamed Downing Street’s daily press conference, which carried news of one of the most wide-ranging peacetime changes to British life. Directly underneath them, games of pool continued undisturbed.

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Shortly after the announcement, with Johnson still speaking, one customer headed out to call a friend. “Listen, you’d better hurry up and get here because all the pubs are shutting at 7pm. Hurry up,” he was heard to say.

At another pub about 250 metres away, a sign on the door assured customers that, as a response to the Covid-19 alert, children would no longer be allowed in until further notice. The bar was full, friends were greeting each other with handshakes and horse racing continued to be shown on the televisions.

At a Wetherspoon’s further up the road, customers had been told that they must sit apart and try to use the app when ordering, but it too was doing a roaring trade.

By the late evening in Penge, however,the streets were quiet and all but one of the pubs on the high street had closed.

Earlier in the evening, the Wetherspoon’s in Leytonstone, east London, was also full – and seemed to be filling up further in the moments following the announcement.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Customers in the Bird pub in Leytonstone. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Meanwhile the nearby Bird pub was less busy than normal for a Friday evening. Caitlin Morgan and her colleague Nick Slotnick, from Woodford, said: “It’s sad but inevitable. It had to happen.” Brid Fitzgerald said: “I’m surprised they weren’t shut sooner. I needed a break because I’m working from home.”

A group of three teachers said the prime minister’s announcement had made them feel “expendable”. “If we’re gonna catch something it will be from the tube, which is packed, rather than from the pub.”

Manchester

At Dulcimer in Chorlton, staff seem to be mostly relieved that they would be forced to close. Chris Henry, manager at the fine ales pub, which also serves food and hosts live music events, said the announcement brought an end to their “limbo”.

“We got put in the position where it wasn’t in the best interests for our customers’ health to be open but no one said we should be closed,” said Henry. “It’s been a horrible week for all of us.”

The pub had been “dead” for the past few days, with only four regulars popping in for a pint since it opened at 4pm on Friday. Other bars and restaurants in the area, including the Creameries and Mary & Archie, had taken the decision to close earlier in the week, but Henry said financial insecurity had meant it was difficult to make the same call.

“The money we’ve taken this week is going to be the last money we’ll take since God knows when,” he said. However, Henry raised concerns that the insurance the business would now be able to try to claim would not cover them for costs including the wages of six staff.

Weston-super-Mare

At the Fork ’n’ Ale taproom in Weston-super-Mare, owner Dave Turner was letting customers finish their pints and meals.

“The prime minister has said we’ve got to close as soon as is reasonable,” said Turner. “I think that means that we should let our customers finish their drinks and meals and when it gets quiet, we’ll close.”

The end of the week is celebrated with “Thank Cod it’s Fryday”: fish and chips and a pint for a tenner. “This has been the roughest week ever,” said Turner. “It would have been nice if we’d had the weekend to try and balance that out but it’s not going to happen.”

Seven staff work at the pub and another six at its brewery. “I feel very sorry for all of them,” said Turner. “I’m hoping the help they say they’ll put in to assist with salaries will work properly.

“It’s going to be very difficult but we have to do what is morally right for the country as a whole. We have to do what is best for everyone. We will be closing down tonight.”

Edinburgh

Karen Feagin, a PhD linguistics student from Washington DC, had only just arrived with her husband, sister-in-law and mother-in-law in the Devil’s Advocate, a famous whisky bar in Edinburgh, when the news came in that ministers had ordered all the UK’s bars, clubs and museums to close with immediate effect.

It felt surreal, she said. She and her husband, Aaron, a congressional public relations officer from DC, and her mother-in-law, Lyn Tillett, had been planning this holiday for a year.

“We’re both sci-fi readers and it feels a little bit like living through some of the books we’ve both read,” Feagin said. Which book? “World War Z,” she said. “We’ve actually had these conversations.”

Play Video 1:59 UK restaurants, pubs and gyms to close because of coronavirus, says Johnson – video

As the waiter arrived with a tasting menu of four special-edition whiskies, her sister-in-law Hannah Fritschner, a masters student in art history, said the coronavirus had been “very disruptive”. She had been planning to study in Glasgow for four years, and had funded it herself. An internship had been cancelled; she’d received no instructions on her course.

But Fritschner was determined to make the most of having her family in Scotland. “I’m trying to enjoy it because once they leave I know I will be here indefinitely,” she said.

Ladislav, operations manager for the bar’s owners, said they employed 200 people across seven bars in Edinburgh. The government’s announcement that 80% of staff would be paid was a relief; the firm had been very worried by the uncertainty of the last week. They could retain staff now.

They would share out all the bar food with staff once their bars closed at 9pm tonight. “Personally, and I’m not talking on behalf of the company, this has been the toughest challenge that we have faced as humans. We were just working our plans out how to survive.”