Newspaper websites across the West Midlands have been reacting to today's news about the new tier system after lockdown:

• The Express and Star reported on pressures on the NHS leading to the government picking which areas went into tier three, external
• The Birmingham Live website said the news the city would be in the toughest tier has left the hospitality sector particularly devastated by the news, external
• 'We want Tier 1 for Christmas' is the cry from MPs in Shropshire,, external according to the Shropshire Star
• While the Hereford Times said the county's public health chief has told residents in the county it is 'vital' they follow the new restrictions, external

The Mayor of Kenilworth has had some encouraging things to say, despite Warwickshire leaping up post-lockdown from tier one to tier three.

Councillor Richard Dickson said: "There is no running away from this. These are tough times."

"It won't always be like this, it's going to get better."

He also said he recognised residents and businesses had "gone to huge lengths in recent weeks and months to respect the rules" and "many people have been struggling, both healthwise and financially".

The Conservative leader of Warwickshire County Council has said she is "in shock" at the decision to place the county in tier three.

Izzi Seccombe said she had been anticipating tier two restrictions and would be asking the government "about the validity of the rates that they've put us in".

"I’m just really having to work out why and also to get very engaged with government about where we will be next time they review it – which is 16 December."

Warwickshire was in tier one before the latest lockdown and is listed as part of a group with Coventry and Solihull, which were previously both in tier two.

"Coventry and Warwickshire are nip and tuck on the rates and right at this moment Coventry is slightly lower than Warwickshire. Solihull is higher, and we're in a grouping, a regional grouping together, so I will be checking with government about whether the evidence that they have used is fair and is reasonable, said Mrs Seccombe.

"And when we move to the next review [we will see] if we can correct this and get it down."

In case you're just joining us, here's a round-up of the news on post-lockdown tiers.

Five areas of the West Midlands will move in to tier two restrictions once lockdown ends - Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Cheshire.

All the others will be placed under tougher tier three restrictions.

There will be no parts of the West Midlands returning to tier one, although all this will be reviewed after a fortnight and some areas could be downgraded.

The government has explained the reasoning behind each of the decisions and generally speaking the areas with the higher infection rates and greatest pressure on the local NHS are in tier three.

A number of areas are in a different tier to the one they were in when lockdown started, with Warwickshire showing the biggest shift - up from tier one to tier three.

When lockdown ends, only two football league clubs in the West Midlands will be allowed fans in their stadium - Shrewsbury Town and Crewe Alexandra.

They will be allowed a maximum of 2,000 supporters because Shropshire and Cheshire will be under tier two restrictions.

Every other club will be in a tier three area and will be allowed none.

Kidderminster Harriers, AFC Telford United and Hereford are also in tier two areas, and play in the National League North.

Allen Cook
BBC News

"Absolutely gutted" - a pub landlady in Tamworth said her head was "all over the place" after finding out Staffordshire would be put in tier three when lockdown ends.

Image source, Google

The move will mean the toughest restrictions including pubs having to close with only delivery and takeaway services allowed.

Lisa Finlay runs The Winning Post and said, despite the announcement being a blow, she had to think ahead for the business.

"I'm just trying to think about the next move, no point in sitting and sulking, I now have to look for plan B," she said.

While some pubs are prepared for the new restrictions and will stay open to serve "substantial meals" with their beer, others are facing difficulty.

That's especially true for what are known in the industry as "wet led pubs", like the Ludlow Brewing Company's tap room.

Marketing manager Sam Howells said "people primarily come to us for a pint" and the only food they serve is snacks, along with scotch eggs and pork pies.

Image source, Ludlow Brewing Company

"We are just as safe as a restaurant or a pub which serves meals," she said, adding the business had planned to operate a table service, which had been welcomed by customers.

Now, she said the company would have to come up with a new plan, with the normally busy Christmas period coming up.

She also questioned why "going to a pub is more dangerous than going for a meal?" .

When lockdown ends, Hillers Farm Shop and Restaurant will have to cope with tier three restrictions, because it's in Warwickshire.

But businesses on the other side of the road will be in tier two, because they're in Worcestershire.

Director Emma Taylor said the Alcester-based company just had to respect that and hope something changes when the tiers are reviewed after a fortnight, but it will mean her restaurant can't reopen yet.

Image source, Google

She'd been preparing for its reopening, in the expectation that her part of rural Warwickshire would be tier two at the worst.

Ms Taylor said without the restaurant "we haven't got that footfall coming through the site" and visiting the farm shop and gift shop.

That will mean "a definite loss of sales" in the run-up to Christmas, she said.

She also said she felt for the restaurant staff who won't be able to return to join their colleagues.

Hillers is a fourth-generation family business which should have been celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

The Severn Valley Railway plans for life in tier two as England prepares to end lockdown.

Allen Cook
BBC News

How will you be affected by the new tier system?

Are you in the hospitality industry or run a beauty salon or concerned about friends and family?

Let us know where you are and how you are feeling at the announcement of which areas will be going into tier three or tier two next week.

You can get in touch by dropping us an email.

Rob Mayor
Political reporter, BBC Radio WM

A move into tier three was widely expected in the West Midlands conurbation.

Although rates of coronavirus have been falling, they remain high and hospitals in the region are still under strain.

Political leaders have told me they are hopeful a fall in cases which they have been seeing will continue and that a move to tier two could be on the cards in mid December.

A family-owned restaurant said the tier three announcement for Birmingham would mean more than 1,200 people would have to cancel or reschedule their bookings.

Many businesses were hoping exiting lockdown at the beginning of December would allow them to make the most of the lucrative Christmas period.

Craft, which is based on Centenary Square, posted on Instagram, external: "This is obviously devastating for our local economy and challenging beyond any consideration".

The restaurant has offered guests who paid deposits either a refund or a voucher.

Sophie Calvert
Political Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

It’s no surprise Stoke-on-Trent and the rest of Staffordshire will be in tier three, with the city and neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme having some of the highest rates in the country.

Image source, Reuters

For the seven days up to 21 November, Stoke-on-Trent's rate was 431.4 per 100,000 people and Newcastle-under-Lyme's stood at 407.1.

Another of the factors will have been the pressure on the Royal Stoke University Hospital - it will be this that will have to come down before there is any chance of dropping down to tier two.

Public health teams will welcome support to increase testing, which they say will also help to reduce the rates.

BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester

The landlord of the Station Inn in Kidderminster says the tier two restrictions facing Worcestershire after lockdown are "a disaster" for his pub.

It's allowed to stay open, but can only serve alcohol along with "substantial meals" and Colin Faulkner said it's not that sort of pub.

Image source, Google

He described it as a "sociable pub" where people come after work to "have a pint with their mates".

"We're no longer that now, we've got to become a restaurant," he said.

Just four local authority areas in the West Midlands have escaped the toughest, tier three restrictions - Shropshire, Telford, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The government hasn't explicitly said why these areas have been placed in tier two, but its explanatory notes reveal some of the thinking behind it.

For Shropshire and Telford it said the overall case rates and those for the over-60s remain high, but are both falling. They are also currently below the rates in tier three areas.

And there is no mention from the government of pressure on the local NHS being high - something which is included as a factor for the tier three areas.

That's not to say the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal hospitals won't be feeling the heat.

The reasoning for placing Herefordshire and Worcestershire in tier two is similar, with infection rates in decline, but the government also mentions that they are "too high for allocation to tier one". Suggesting perhaps they may be be on the borderline between tiers one and two.

BBC Radio WM

A pub landlord has told the BBC the industry desperately needs more help following news the West Midlands will move to tier three after lockdown ends.

Image source, PA Media

The move means hospitality venues like pubs have to close, except for delivery and takeaway services.

Andy Smith runs the Plough in Wollaston, Dudley, and said this year has been devastating for his industry.

"The cracks are already starting and come February next year there's going to be a major collapse in this industry if it doesn't get sorted.

"We need some kind of more help and what that is going to be I don't know because it doesn't look to be coming."

People in the West Midlands are being urged to "think about one last heave" by mayor Andy Street over the new Covid-19 restrictions set to be introduced after lockdown.

Image source, PA Media

The government has set out the coronavirus tier system for after lockdown with the whole of Birmingham and the Black Country facing the toughest restrictions.

Mr Street told BBC Radio WM he understood why people had might have had enough of restrictions.

"We've had this for nine months. I would ask everyone to think about one last heave. There is light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

"We've got to continue to do what we are doing, so that in two weeks time we are looking at a lowering of our tiers."

Simon Gilbert
Political Reporter, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

Coventry and Warwickshire both enter the most restrictive tier three which I’m sure won’t be welcomed by many businesses and those living in the areas.

It will be a shock particularly to the people in Warwickshire and the politicians there – I think there was a feeling that Warwickshire had a bit of a better grip on rates, particularly in the south of the county, and they thought that they might get away with avoiding those highest level restrictions and may have even got into the lowest – but as it turns out today that’s not the case.

This obviously means a big change for some coming from the lowest restrictions before the national lockdown with restaurants and pubs now having to close.

Eleanor Lawrie
BBC News

Although the new tiers are due to take effect from 2 December, special arrangements are in place for Christmas.

Under those rules, coronavirus restrictions will be eased to allow people to mix with a slightly wider circle of friends and family.

Image source, Getty Images

Between 23 and 27 December, three households can form a "Christmas bubble" allowing them to mix indoors and even stay overnight.

The bubbles will be fixed, so you will not be able to mix with two households on Christmas Day and two different ones on Boxing Day.

Households in your Christmas bubble can't bubble with anyone else.

Read more

High case rates of more than 236 per 100,000 people have been put forward by the Department of Health (DoH) , externalas the reason for areas in the West Midlands being in tier three.

All of Birmingham and the Black Country, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull have rates currently higher than this.

But the government placed Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin (200 per 100,000), Herefordshire (160.3) and Worcestershire (201) in tier two from the end of lockdown.

For the tier three areas, the DoH added the pressure on the local NHS in those places "remains high".