SCREEN NEWS: Further easing of COVID-19 restrictions postponed to 19 July in England

The UK government has announced a postponement of further easing of COVID-19 restrictions until 19 July 2021, keeping capacity restrictions in place for cinemas & other screen venues.

By RADIANT CIRCUS // Twitter @radiantcircus / Instagram @radiantcircus

I’m writing this more out of a sense of blogging completeness than assuming anyone uses RADIANT CIRCUS as their primary source of information about COVID-19…

However, with that in mind, a delay until 19 July will put many screen venues and exhibitors under further economic pressure as capacity restrictions will stay in place. For those venues not yet fully open for live events (of which there are a number…), the planned easing off of furlough funding (requiring business to make a higher contribution) may similarly add to their concerns.

Watching this evening’s news conference (just finished…), Boris Johnson explained “now is the time to ease off the accelerator” to give the vaccination programme a greater chance of success. He repeatedly described the new date of 19 July as a “terminus date” rather than a “not before date”. Without getting into the rights or wrongs of this analysis in any way, the subsequent questions by the media highlighted the potential future challenges to such confidence…

We’re still keeping track of venue reopening dates and the many ways you can support them in our venue A-Z. Also, our Revive The Dark campaign is still going ahead, raising money to help DIY exhibitors return to projecting so that London can continue to enjoy a diverse and distinctive alternative cinema scene.

See you in the darkness (if you’re able to get there),

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

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