Tier breakdown for England announced
The government has announced details of which areas will be in each of the three tiers.
The strictest Tier 3 will cover large parts of England including:
- Significant parts of the north west including Manchester, Blackpool and Lancashire
- all of the north east including Newcastle and Middlesbrough
- some parts of the south west including Bristol
- most of the Midlands including Birmingham, Coventry and Nottingham
- some parts of the south west including Bristol
- in the south east the whole of Kent
Only the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Scilly isles will be Tier 1.
Theatres Trust Director Jon Morgan responds:
It is a terrible blow for the theatre sector that so many large towns and cities in England are now in Tier 3 where theatres are not permitted to open. There are many theatres that we know where planning pantos and other shows for December and this news will be devastating for those organisations. They will have invested in rehearsals and other preparations for reopening and will now find themselves unable to recoup those costs, facing further financial strain in what has already been a catastrophic year.
Update 1 December: DCMS has now published revised guidance in light of the new tier system.
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