England’s pubs reopened for business after lockdown today, leaving thousands of customers frozen to death in their gardens.

Regulars were looking forward to their first pint in three months but many had not dressed for the unseasonably cold weather.

Snow and icy winds left many boozers suffering from hypothermia, while scotch eggs were frozen solid.

Two customers in Ipswich, Jonathan Snow and Samuel Tarly, wore clothing suited to chilly conditions but still got freezing cold when they sat outside the King’s Head.

Mr Snow said: “I’ve been through quite a few cold trips in The North but this was a real trial today. Still, it was great being back in the pub, apart from the grumpy woman behind the bar.

“She was a dragon.”

Public health expert Lorraine Fisher, 34, said she and colleagues were worried.

“We may have got coronavirus under control, which allowed us to open pub gardens and shops again.

“But now we are expected an epidemic of influenza.”

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