North West Cambridgeshire MP Shailesh Vara said it had been a “long wait” to drop into a pub for a pint after visiting Ramsey to mark the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown on pubs and restaurants.

He praised pub operators for their hard work in making their premises safe for people to visit after more than three months of closure because of the pandemic.

Mr Vara visited the Ale House and Kitchen, run by Matt Parkins and Oliver Gee, with town mayor Cllr Steve Corney and Cllr John Palmer, together with his wife Anne Palmer.

He said: ““I was very pleased to visit the Ale House and Kitchen on the first day of the reopening of pubs. It’s been a long wait to have a pint in a pub again.

“Matt and Ollie have put in a huge amount of work to ensure that a visit to their pub is both enjoyable and safe and it was good to see many people coming in during the time I was there. I hope it won’t be long before I visit again.”

Cllr Corney said: “I was delighted to be supporting the local High Street in Ramsey and in particular the Ale House. It was great to visit the pub again and I hope others will also support businesses generally in our area as we ease up on lockdown.”

Cllr John Palmer added: “It’s really good to see the reopening of pubs and restaurants.

“Whilst ensuring that there is proper social distancing, hopefully we will see a return to more social interaction between friends and family in our local pubs and restaurants.”

Matt Parkins added: “It was great to have Shailesh joining us as we opened up to the public last Saturday.

“We’ve put in place proper social distancing measures and it was good to see that on our first day of opening many regulars come back. We have missed them as much as they have missed us.”

Matt said: “We’re serving drinks for now but we hope it won’t be long before our restaurant is open again for our regular diners too.”