Following on from Boris Johnson’s lockdown ‘roadmap’ address to the nation last night, the government have this afternoon released a 60-page document outlining which shops and businesses are permitted to open, and which will have to remain closed, until June at least.
Food retailers, hardware stores, garden centres and food markets are able to open immediately, but places like beauty salons, hairdressers, leisure centres and gyms will have to stay closed, for now at least.
Places which can open include:
- Food retailers
- Hardware stores
- Garden centres (from Wednesday 13th May)
- Food Markets
Places which can’t open include:
- Restaurants and cafes, other than for takeaway
- Pubs, cinemas, theatres and nightclubs
- Indoor and outdoor leisure facilities such as bowling alleys, gyms, arcades and soft play
- Clothing and electronics stores; hair, beauty and nail salons; and outdoor and indoor markets (not selling food)
- Libraries, community centres, and youth centres
- Some communal places within parks, such as playgrounds and outdoor gyms
- Places of worship (except for funerals)
- Hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, campsites, caravan parks, and boarding houses for commercial/leisure use, excluding use by those who live in them permanently, those who are unable to return home and critical workers where they need to for work
Shops currently considered “non-essential”, such as fashion or homeware retailers, could be able to open from the start of June at the earliest with pubs, hairdressers and cinemas having to keep their fingers crossed for a July opening.
