Garden centres to reopen this week as long as they impose social distancing rules
GARDEN centres will reopen this week in a major boost to green-fingered Brits.
The reopening of garden centres will only go ahead if they can apply strict social distancing measures.
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Garden centres are set to open doors on Wednesday — giving staff two days to install social-distancing tape and Perspex screens on tills.
Plans for non-essential shops to re-open were not mentioned in yesterday's TV speech, but more details were including in the government's latest guidance which was issued earlier today.
It said that garden centres can open from May 13, bringing them in line with food retailers and food markets, hardware stores and some other retailers, which have remained open since March.
Other shops, including clothing and electrical stores, will not open before June 1 under the current "road to recovery" set out by Boris Johnson last night.
Businesses that must remain closed
WHILE the government is encouraging some to return to work, it says the following businesses and venues are required by law to stay closed to the public:
- Restaurants and cafes, other than for takeaway
- Pubs, cinemas, theatres and nightclubs
- Clothing and electronics stores; hair, beauty and nail salons; and outdoor and indoor markets not selling food
- Libraries, community centres, and youth centres
- Indoor and outdoor leisure facilities such as bowling alleys, gyms, arcades and soft play facilities - although outdoor sports facilities, such as tennis and basketball courts, golf courses and bowling greens, will be allowed to reopen from May 13
- 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
Food retailers, food markets, and hardware stores can remain open, while garden centres and certain other retailers can reopen from May 13.
The PM laid out a roadmap to recovery in three stages.
In a video message on Sunday night the PM said:
- Urged Brits to get back to work if they can't from home
- Revealed Brits would be allowed to sunbathe in parks and play unlimited sport from Wednesday - and can go on day trips
- Said anyone coming into the country by air would be forced to quarantine
- Schools will start going back from June - but only if the infection level is low enough
- But he warned that pubs, cinemas and mass gatherings would be off the cards for months to come
But the PM warned that the plans were conditional to infection rates dropping.
Shops allowed to stay open
ONLY a small group of retailers will be allowed to stay open, they include:
- Supermarkets
- Pharmacies
- Takeaways and food deliveries
- Health shops
- Medical services – eg, dentists
- Vets
- Newsagents
- Pet shops
- Hardware stores
- Retail shops in hospitals
- Petrol stations
- Bicycle shops
- Laundrettes and dry cleaners
- Undertakers
- Banks, building societies
- Short-term loan providers, credit unions and cash points
- Storage and distribution centres
- Post Offices
- Car rental services and car parks near vital services such as supermarkets
- Public toilets
- Car garages and repair shops
- Food banks and shelters
Workplaces that are allowed to reopen will have to follow strict new Covid-secure rules, such as separate entrances and exits, desks that face away from each other and possibly rotations of workforces to keep exposure to the minimum.
He added: "Throughout this period of the next two months we will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity.
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"We are going to be driven by the science, the data and public health.
"And I must stress again that all of this is conditional, it all depends on a series of big Ifs."
Visits to pubs, cinemas and gigs will be banned for months.
While anyone entering the country will have to quarantine under new rules set out by the PM.
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