Covid 19 - What you need to know - Guidance for English premises updated

In anticipation of the new restrictions due to come into force on Monday limiting the number of persons permitted to gathering together (excluding your household and associated ‘bubble’) the government has updated its published guidance for England.

The revised guidance can be found here in section 5. This guidance reaffirms that premises operating inline with COVID-19 secure guidelines… “can host more than 6 people in total, in line with guidance for their sector, but no one should visit or socialise in a group of greater than 6 (unless they are all part of the same household or support bubble). It is also important that people from different households (who are not meeting as a support bubble) remain socially distanced.”

In addition to outlining the new restrictions outlined by the Prime Minister in his recent address, the issue of cumulative impact is raised.

The guidance states:

“Individual businesses or venues should also consider the cumulative impact of many venues reopening in a small area. This means working with local authorities, neighbouring businesses and travel operators to assess this risk and applying additional mitigations.

These could include:

• Further lowering capacity - even if it is possible to safely seat a number of people inside a venue, it may not be safe for them all to travel or enter that venue.
• Staggering entry times with other venues and taking steps to avoid queues building up in surrounding areas.
• Arranging one-way travel routes between transport hubs and venues.
• Advising patrons to avoid particular forms of transport or routes and to avoid crowded areas when in transit to the venue.”