Edinburgh restaurant imports ski cable cars for socially distanced dining

A bar and restaurant in Edinburgh has imported six cable car gondolas from the French Alps to help enforce social distancing when it reopens to customers.

Image: Roomfood

Licensed hospitality outlets in Scotland’s central belt were forced to close on 10 October as the government placed tougher restrictions on the country.

While it is currently operating as a takeaway, bar and restaurant McLarens on the Corner in Morningside is planning for the future, enlisting the services of bespoke furniture company Roomfood.

Image: Roomfood

According to the Scotsman Food and Drink, the six gondolas were imported from the Courchevel ski resort in France and will be used as dining pods for up to four people.

Restaurants around the world have created unusual, and often downright bizarre, methods of enforcing social distancing. These include a restaurant in Amsterdam which installed ‘quarantine greenhouses’ for household groups, a French designer who developed a range of ‘designer dining lampshades’, a café in Germany which made customers wear hats made out of pool noodles and several restaurants which put mannequins at empty tables.

The news in Edinburgh follows a leaked report, which states that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will place the Scottish capital in Tier 3 of the country’s restrictions today. This will mean that hospitality outlets will continue to be prevented from serving alcohol, both indoors and outdoors, though they may be permitted to reopen during specified hours. The sale of both alcohol and food is permitted for takeaway operations.

The ski gondolas were imported from the French Alps. Image: Roomfood

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