More than three-quarters of pubs could reopen if social distancing rules were relaxed to one metre, the boss of a large trade body has said.
But if the two-metre guidance remains, just one-third could reopen their doors and many would face further financial misery and ruin, warned Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).
The struggling hospitality sector was given a flicker of hope after Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted yesterday that restaurants, hotels and bars could potentially reopen earlier than planned after he asked scientists to review the two-metre rule.
Miss McClarkin, whose organisation represents about 20,000 UK pubs and the majority of brewers, told the PA news agency the required distance should be reduced to at least one metre, as in several European countries and advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
She said: "We're not asking unless it's safe to do.
"It is an internationally recognised standard of one metre, used in France, Italy and Denmark, which allows some kind of normality.
"Pubs are currently on a very highly tuned Government life-support machine.
"The longer they remain on it, and with all the other medicines they have to pay for, some won't survive.
"Once pubs close they are very, very hard to resuscitate."
Miss McClarkin said polling of BBPA members showed about 40% could not survive until September if they remained closed, and the pub sector was burning through roughly £100 million in cash every month during lockdown.
Under current plans, pubs, hotels and restaurants remain closed until at least July 4.
Miss McClarkin, a former Conservative MEP for the East Midlands region, said polling of members also showed just one-third could re-open under two-metre guidelines, with that figure jumping to more than 75% if it is dropped to one metre.
At the Commons Liaison Committee yesterday, Mr Johnson told MPs the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) had been told to review the guidance.
He said: "My own hope is that as we make progress in getting the virus down, in reducing the incidence, that we will be able to reduce that distance, which I think will be particularly valuable in transport and clearly the hospitality sector."
Mr Johnson said advice from Sage remains that there is "a very considerable reduction in risk at two metres".
Public Health England's medical director, Professor Yvonne Doyle, has said the UK took a "cautionary" approach to introducing the rule when other countries were using shorter distances.
She told the Science and Technology Select Committee: "We are aware of the international differences and I am sure this will be the subject of continued investigation as to whether two metres is actually necessary or whether that can be reduced further."
Miss McClarkin said bars have spent lockdown assessing how to keep staff and customers safe, looking at deep cleaning regimes and options including limited bar service to reduce transmission.
Just under one million people are employed in the beer brewing and pub industry in the UK, with hundreds of thousand currently furloughed, and jobs could be lost if two-metre social distancing remained as fewer staff would be needed, she added.
Miss McClarkin went on: "Pubs are not going to be the same. It is still going to be an altered experience in your local, but we can all find our way back to the new normal while getting back to the pub.
"Pubs are in many cases the heart of communities and we are ready to play the role that we have played in communities up and down the country."
Last week, pub giant Wetherspoon's said it will spend an initial £11 million making its 875 pubs Covid-19 secure, ahead of reopening, including screens at bars and tables.
The chain said each pub will hire two full-time workers to regularly clean surfaces and touch-points throughout, with more employed in larger pubs.
