Nightclubs and Covid: Seven days 'absolutely not enough' to prepare to reopen

Some 3,000 clubbers hit the dance floor at this trial event in Liverpool in April - but clubs have otherwise been shut since the pandemic began

Nightclubs are not being given enough time to prepare to reopen if the UK government confirms the end of lockdown, industry leaders say.

All legal restrictions could end in England on 21 June - but that won't be decided until 14 June, the health secretary said earlier this week.

"It's just inconceivable that they think seven days is enough," one nightclub industry figure says.

But the chancellor says the government's timeframe is "sensible".

Rishi Sunak told Radio 1 Newsbeat: "When we talked to industry before about the roadmap, people wanted some advance notice - and there's a balance.

"If you have more advance notice then that means the unlocking date gets pushed to the right. It's just trying to get that balance right and I think we're in a sensible place."

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), said this is "a clear misunderstanding" of the way clubs operate.

'There's only so much you can do'

Clubs would normally take about four weeks to get ready to reopen, but with staff needing extra training to keep venues Covid-safe it will take "considerably longer", he said.

"There's a lot of considerations that are just not being accounted for. Seven days is absolutely not enough."

Anton Stevens, the director of the Hidden Nightclub in Manchester, said the timings are "not ideal" - and that it limits how much his venue can plan ahead with booking acts to perform, buying stock and retraining staff.

"There's only so much you can do with a week's notice," he added.

"The more notice that we do get, the better we can be when we do reopen," says Anton Stevens

Coronavirus has crippled the nightclub industry, with a recent report finding UK clubs have been forced to make 51% of their staff redundant since last year. In comparison, bars and pubs have axed 32% and 25% of their workers respectively.

In recent weeks there's been several trial events - including club nights for 3,000 people in Liverpool - to see how clubbing can return safely despite the pandemic.

Clubs in England will have been closed for 15 months by June, when it's hoped lockdown will ease fully.

• Nightclubbers emotional as UK trial event begins

• Nightclubs eye June reopening but can they survive?

• Nightclubs reopening: 'There's no end in sight'

Speaking at a college in north London on Thursday, Mr Sunak said officials are keeping a close eye on the figures but that "we're not seeing anything in the data at the moment that would make us think that it's not going to be possible" to fully ease rules on 21 June.

"I'm hopeful that we make progress on the roadmap and all get back out on the dance floor soon enough," he added.

However, he said he wouldn't "speculate" about whether or not further financial support would be available for businesses in the night-time economy if they can't reopen as planned.

He said his Budget, announced earlier in the year, was "on the generous side" and provides support "that would allow for flexibility in the roadmap".

Chancellor Rishi Sunak told Radio 1 Newsbeat that young people are "at the heart of all my thinking"

Younger workers have been worst-affected by the pandemic, according to unemployment figures.

Mr Sunak said they're "at the heart of all my thinking" and that the government's Kickstart programme has helped to create more than 200,000 jobs for young people.

But he added that not all of those jobs have yet been filled, because of lockdown.

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