Will Paterson's voice echoes around a large dark room at the E1 nightclub, once one of London's biggest party venues but which has not seen a customer for 16 months.

After months of preparations to finally reopen on June 21, club manager Paterson is struggling to put a gloss on Boris Johnson's latest announcement of a four-week delay in lifting all coronavirus restrictions.

“Each week of the delay will cost pubs 100 million ($140 million, 116 million euros),” the head of the British Beer & Pub Association, Emma McClarkin, told AFP.

The association has been one of the most vocal critics of coronavirus closures and says the latest move “increases the chances of pubs disappearing forever”.