Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham, has welcomed the good news that, from today, all pubs, restaurants and hairdressers across the country will be able to open.
Over the past few months, retail and leisure businesses across the United Kingdom and in North West Durham have had to close as the country has battled a pandemic and faced a lockdown. From today (July 4th), all restaurants, pubs and hairdressers will be able to open as the country starts to look forward and kickstart the economy. High streets and non-essential shops were able to open on June 15th, which you can read about here, and this is the next step of lockdown restrictions being lifted.
All restaurants, pubs and hairdressers will be asked to have strict hygiene measures in place, including
- Table service where possible – people will be discouraged from ordering at bars in pubs or at counters in restaurants and each table will be assigned a single member of staff in order to limit contact
- Use of contactless ordering where possible – this could be through an app
- Encouraging staff to stick to one particular area within a pub or restaurant
- Encouraging both customers and staff to use hand sanitiser or wash their hand upon entering the establishment and encouraging regular hand washing
- Encouraging social distancing and ensuring that social distancing can be maintained throughout all venues – this could be through staff guidance or through signs
- Sector specific guidance that has been published for hairdressers states that whoever is providing the service should wear a clear visor at all times to cover the face and that cleaning should be frequent and customer numbers limited
Richard has written separately about the reopening of pubs (read this here) and the easing of shielding restrictions (which you can read about here). Richard has also written about the downgrading of the Covid-19 security alert level here. Full guidance about the lockdown restrictions being lifted can be found here.
Commenting, Richard said ‘It is fantastic news for our high streets that venues are now able to reopen, and I know that everyone is pleased hairdressers are finally able to open! The lockdown has been incredibly difficult for business owners and I’ve had a lot of contact with business owners in the constituency about the help available for them and what we can do to ensure that they are able to get things going again soon. I encourage all of you to get out, get the economy going and enjoy yourselves, but I also ask that all of you stay sensible and think about how you can stay safe to protect both yourselves and those in the community. Any queries please get in touch with my office.’
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