BORIS Johnson has told people to wear cloth face coverings in shops, public transport and some workplaces ­— and said some pubs could start serving again later this summer.

But landlords in Bolton poured cold water on the plans saying they did not believe they would be able to reopen again so soon.

Mr Johnson confirmed to MPs that some children would be returning to primary school in June and held out the prospect of some pubs, restaurants and cinemas reopening with social distancing in place the following month.

His desire to see more people returning to work this week and to reopen a wider range of shops received a mixed reaction.

Mr Johnson rubbished suggestions that the new ‘stay alert’ message was too vague compared to ‘stay at home’ and said he had faith in the British public to use their common sense.

Publishing a 50-page ‘road map’ outlining the government’s future plans to get out of lockdown, Mr Johnson said the lifting of restrictions could vary between regions depending on their success in tackling the virus and that fines for breaking social distancing rules would rise to £100 up to £3,600 for repeated offending.

Sporting events may be allowed to take place behind closed doors from next month and the rules on meeting family members from other households have been relaxed.

It comes as pub landlords in Bolton expressed doubts that they would be able to turn a profit with social distancing in place.

Mike Hales, the director of Imagine Inns which runs several pubs in the area, including The Railway in Bromley Cross, doubt that this will be possible.

Mr Hales said: “For pubs I think it will be September. If we have to open up with social distancing it just won’t be profitable, we will have to ride out the storm.

“We’ve tried setting out our tables two metres apart and it would be a third of the covers we usually get. It just wouldn’t be viable. If it was one metre it would make a big difference.

“But the business is still costing us now; we have to pay rent and that’s becoming hard. If it’s another three months its going to be tough.”

Imagine Inns also runs The Hawthorns in Blackrod, a popular wedding venue. Mr Hales believes large weddings won’t be happening until next year.

“For the wedding venue it looks like we will open in March 2021. People want big weddings with 100-150 people, they don’t want just 30. There’s going to be no big events like those at all. But we’re just trying to stay positive.”

A main concern which is affecting any place that is opening up is how distancing measures would be enforced.

George Campbell, the landlord at the Spread Eagle in Bromley Cross said: “ It’s kind of what we expected. I didn’t expect it to open any sooner. It’s a balancing act, it’s our business and our livelihood, but it’s also important to have consumer confidence too.

“People have said they want pubs open but unless we have the customers coming in we can’t pay for the overheard and running costs. We need the confidence of our customers before we can reopen.

“I think Boris has made the right decision, he’s got to do whatever is best. People’s safety is the most important thing. The government are helping with the furlough scheme, which I think is being extended now.

“What we would like is a bit of notice before we open, if we’re going to reopen in July we need to know now. You can’t just reopen a pub over night, it takes time from the breweries to setting out the tables for social distancing.

“You’ve got to get that balance between people’s safety, customer confidence and the economy.

“I think that it will happen but we need to be putting plans in place over the next few weeks. Some pubs will struggle with the size, but then you’ve got the other extreme where people may not want to go to larger pubs anyway.

“We would like to know sooner rather than later so we can put plans in place, obviously they can’t promise anything.”

Daryl and Sarah Leech, who run Bunbury’s in Chorley Old Road, are concerned about the lack of Government support.

Mr Leech said:“We’ll probably be okay until July but any longer than that and we would need help.

“We’re doing deliveries right now and virtual quizzes, so we’ve still got things going on. But if there was a partial reopening that could finish our delivery business and it would favour bigger pubs.

“I think pubs and restaurants will need the most support because we are going to be the last to open.

“They say you can open with a limited number of people, but that could be quite hard to manage and it might not be worthwhile opening. We just wouldn’t get enough people in the door to make it viable.”