Burnham-On-Sea pubs, restaurants, holiday parks, hotels and hairdressers will be able to open from 4th July when social distancing rules will be eased across England.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that people should remain 2m apart where possible but a “one metre plus” rule will be introduced.
Two households in England will also be able to meet indoors and stay overnight – with social distancing. The prime minister warned that all steps were “reversible”.
The meeting of households will not be exclusive, but unlike the bubble system people will have to maintain social distance. Mr Johnson said people will be encouraged to use “mitigation” – such as face coverings and not sitting face-to-face – when within 2m of each other and “where it is possible to keep 2m apart, people should”.
Venues able to re-open on July 4th include:
- Pubs, bars and restaurants but only with a table service indoors, and owners will be asked to keep contact details of customers to help with contact tracing
- Hotels, holiday apartments, campsites and caravan parks but shared facilities must be cleaned properly
- Theatres and music halls but they will not be allowed to hold live performances
- In other changes weddings will be allowed to have 30 attendees, and places of worship will be allowed to hold services but singing will be banned
- Hair salons and barbers will be able to reopen but must put protective measures, such as visors, in place
- Libraries, community centres and bingo halls
- Cinemas, museums and galleries
- Funfairs, theme parks, adventure parks, amusement arcades, skating rinks and model villages
- Indoor attractions where animals are exhibited, such as at zoos, aquariums, farms, safari parks and wildlife centres
What cannot open from July 4th?
The following places will remain closed by law:
- Nightclubs and casinos
- Bowling alleys and indoor skating rinks
- Indoor play areas including soft-play
- Spas
- Nail bars and beauty salons
- Massage, tattoo and piercing parlours
- Indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities
- Swimming pools and water parks
- Exhibition or conference centres – other than for those who work for that venue.
Mr Johnson said that the announcement meant “our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he welcomed the statement overall, adding ” I believe the government is trying to do the right thing and in that I support them”.
He added he thought it was “safe for some children to return to school” and he urged clarity over getting all children back to school safely.
Boris Johnson said in a speech in the House of Commons: “We can now go further and safely ease the lockdown in England. At every stage, caution will remain our watch word. Each step will be conditional and reversible.”
The changes to social-distancing guidance come after appeals from the hospitality industry and Conservative MPs. Current evidence suggests being 1m apart carries between two and 10 times the risk of being 2m apart, scientists advising the government say.
According to UK Hospitality, 2m distancing would see, on average, venues trading at 30% capacity, whereas 1m would put it up to 70%.
The Prime Minister added that he did not believe there was “a risk of a second peak of infections that might overwhelm the NHS”.
He highlighted a further decline in the seven-day rolling average of deaths, and championed an increase in testing – now totalling over 8 million since the beginning of the pandemic.
