There is a likelihood that drinkers will 'over-do' it as pubs reopen across England today (July 4) amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

That's according to Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones, who warned of the risk of "decompression" amid the ongoing ease of lockdown restrictions on the BBC's Today Programme this morning.

The Lincolnshire PCC told the radio show that after months of more restrictive living, the higher number of unauthorised gathering the police have been forced to break up suggested an urge for people to shrug off the limits imposed by lockdown.

"I think there will always be some over-doing going on and I don't think tonight will be any different from any other Saturday night, sadly, in that regard," he said.

Jones singled out young people in particular as at greater risk of overdoing it:

"I do think there is an element of decompression going on, particularly with younger people who have had some very responsible parents keeping them in over recent weeks.

"We are seeing some gatherings that police are having to deal with in parks and open spaces, and I think those kind of things are going to last for a few days and then we should start to get back to normal."

Regulars at a number of London pubs have already returned to their former watering holes, with earlier opening times permitted on the first day in-house service after the coronavirus restrictions were eased.

Andrew Slawinski, 54, who bought a Guinness, described his first pub pint in three months as "gorgeous".

"It's like winning the [Premier] League," he said from the Toll Gate Wetherspoons pub in Turnpike Lane, London.

A range of measures have been implemented at the pub including contact tracing forms, Perspex screens and compulsory table service.