As pubs, restaurants and other non-essential businesses across England are allowed to reopen after over three months in lockdown, the city of Leicester is the exception.

The central English city famous for pork pies and stilton cheese is the first district that the government has imposed 'local lockdowns' on, which has left the city divided. Those inside the locked-down areas must follow the same guidelines of recent months, whilst others on the outside are free to begin life as before.

Stephen Ward runs the Harrow Inn pub in the Thurmaston area of Leicester and would have been ready to open on Monday, but he now has to wait another two weeks.

"It's one of those things that you've got to draw the lines somewhere and we just happen to be that side of the line… it gives me a chance to see how the effect of opening is going to be in the other pubs."

On the other hand, there are many pubs across the city and county, which – despite being allowed to open – have decided not to at the moment, for the safety of residents in the local areas.

Further out of the city and into the country village of Desford, Michale Cosgrove, the landlord of The Blue Bell Inn and Lodge, summed up the safety-first attitude: "We just feel that our being so close to a lockdown area, it's not safe for us to be open and have people that can quite easily travel here which is eight kilometers – when realistically, they shouldn't be here."

This sentiment was echoed by Nicola Ellershaw, general manager of The Pug and Greyhound in the Great Glen area of Leicester. "We're very much a community and village pub and we want to look after the community," she told CGTN. "We're thinking about the safety of our staff and our customers, which is paramount to us."