Uncertainty reigns for pubs, restaurants and theatres amid coronavirus advice

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre was the latest to close its doors after people were given coronavirus advice to avoid theatres, pubs and bars and 'non-essential' contact.

The Lichfield Street-based theatre will be closed until March 29 following news of Birmingham Hippodrome and The Alexandra Theatre shutting their doors last night.

During a briefing yesterday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said: "You should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues."

But there is anger from some in the industry after Mr Johnson stopped short of forcing venues to close, leaving some in limbo.

UK Music, which represents the music industry, said cancellations would cause "immense damage".

A Grand Theatre spokesman said: "Whilst we very much regret this decision, the welfare of our loyal patrons and our 160 employees is of the upmost importance to our organisation.

"We will contact all customers who have purchased tickets for upcoming performances as soon as possible.

"We will work closely with producers during the coming weeks in order to do our best to reschedule the productions on alternative dates.

"We wholeheartedly thank you for your patience and understating during this unprecedented and difficult time."

They urged people not to contact the Grand Theatre as staff will be contacting customers in performance date order.

And Lichfield Garrick Theatre has also announced the cancellation of all shows in March.

Karen Foster, chief executive at the theatre, said: "We have the pleasure of welcoming over 130,000 people through our doors during a normal year; following government guidelines, we are closing our doors to protect our patrons, staff and volunteers.

"At present, our team is working on processing the cancellations for imminent shows and I do ask the public to understand that this will be done in date order.

"The next few months will be challenging for all of the entertainment and leisure industries and I know that our public will want to support their local, independent arts charity.

"We look forward to opening our doors again and to welcoming our many patrons back into the theatre when it is safe to do so.”

However The Electric Cinema in Birmingham is remaining open, with officials saying it would remain so until any Government ban is agreed.

Major chains including Odeon, Cineworld and Picturehouse have announced plans to close their doors for the foreseeable future, following updated guidance on the Covid-19 outbreak.

One business which has already decided to close next week is COSMO Restaurants, in Bentley Bridge Retail Park, Wolverhampton.

The announcement was made via Facebook that it will close on Monday until further notice.

The post says: "Out of an abundance of caution and concern for the health and well-being of the community, we have taken the decision to temporarily close COSMO Wolverhampton as of Monday 23rd March 2020 until further notice.

"We have had no confirmed cases amongst our staff but to ensure no spread in our restaurants, COSMO Wolverhampton will be temporarily closed.

"Apologies for any inconvenience caused to any bookings made for this period - the health and well-being of all our staff and customers is our priority and we will still continue to monitor the situation closely and follow all Government guidelines stringently.

"Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to welcoming you back soon."

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The Springhill pub in Wolverhampton is now putting measures in place to keep the business going for the 40 staff and customers.

Manager Andy Meddings said: "Last week wasn't as busy, we probably lost about 20 per cent of our business.

"We know pubs around the area which are suffering, but we're putting things in place to keep afloat.

"We launched Sunday dinner takeaways a year ago and that has worked really well so now people can collect or have other food delivered where possible.

"We employ 40 staff, we're cutting back on hours so if it gets busy we're not going to be able to send people out delivering, but we can meet people in the car park.

"We will deliver to about three miles away, but if we do get somebody ringing and begging we will go to them no matter what.

"We've just got to take it day by day."

Mr Meddings said the Prime Minister is "throwing us under the bus" advising people not to go to pubs or restaurants but not closing them.

He added: "It's the worst thing possible for our industry.

"We've got to hope for positive news over the next couple of weeks.

"Grants would be great but there's a lot of companies out there that are going to be needing it.

"If this carries on we need to be told to shut."

And bosses at Lych Gate Tavern, off Queens Square, in Wolverhampton city centre, said they are "in limbo" and there is a lot of anger among pub owners.

Landlady Hayley Hall said: "It has been very quiet, we've had some people in which is great, as we're not in a position to close.

"There are people that rely on coming in for company and it's part of their daily routine.

"It's just very uncertain times, it's very much a worry.

"We have events in the diary that we don't know whether they can go ahead.

"We're very much in limbo, there's an awful lot of anger and uncertainty in pub forums I am in."