With the Isle of Wight set to go from Tier 3 to Tier 4 restrictions TONIGHT, Island Echo looks at what this means for local business including which businesses must close their doors once again.
The Government has confirmed that the Island will enter tough Tier 4 restrictions from 00:01 on 31st December – New Year’s Eve – to help stop the spread of COVID-19, meaning all non-essential retail, beauty businesses, leisure facilities and entertainment venues must close. Accommodation providers and hospitality venues are already closed.
The rules will be in place for the foreseeable future with the next review on tier restrictions expected in around 2 weeks’ time.
The following businesses and premises must close:
- Non-essential retail – clothing and homeware stores, vehicle showrooms, betting shops, tailors, tobacco and vape shops, electronic goods and mobile phone shops, auction houses and market stalls selling non-essential goods. Click and collect can continue where goods are pre-ordered and collected off the premises, as well as delivery services.
- Hospitality venues – cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and social clubs; with the exception of providing food and drink for takeaway (until 23:00), click-and-collect, drive-through or delivery
- Accommodation – hotels, hostels, guest houses and campsites, except for specific circumstances, such as where these act as someone’s main residence, where the person cannot return home, for providing accommodation or support to the homeless, or where it is essential to stay there for work purposes
- Leisure and sports facilities – leisure centres and indoor gyms, indoor swimming pools, indoor sports courts, indoor fitness and dance studios, indoor riding centres, and indoor climbing walls
- Entertainment venues – theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums and galleries, casinos, amusement arcades, bingo halls, bowling alleys, skating rinks, go-karting venues, indoor play and soft play centres and areas (including inflatable parks and trampolining centres), circuses, fairgrounds, funfairs, zoos and other animal attractions, water parks and theme parks
- Indoor attractions including those at botanical gardens, heritage homes and landmarks, though outdoor grounds of these premises can stay open
- Personal care facilities – hair, beauty, tanning and nail salons. Tattoo parlours, spas, massage parlours, body and skin piercing services must also close. These services should not be provided in other people’s homes
- Community centres and halls – except for a limited number of exempt activities. Libraries can also remain open to provide access to IT and digital services – for example for people who do not have it at home – and for click-and-collect services
Other businesses and venues are permitted to stay open, following COVID-19 Secure guidelines. This includes those providing essential goods and services, including:
- Essential retail such as food shops, supermarkets, pharmacies, garden centres, building merchants and suppliers of building products and off-licences
- Market stalls selling essential retail may also stay open
- Businesses providing repair services may also stay open, where they primarily offer repair services
- Petrol stations, automatic (but not manual) car washes, vehicle repair and MOT services, bicycle shops, and taxi and vehicle hire businesses
- Banks, building societies, post offices, short-term loan providers and money transfer businesses
- Funeral directors
- Laundrettes and dry cleaners
- Medical and dental services
- Vets and pet shops
- Animal rescue centres, boarding facilities, and animal groomers (may continue to be used for animal welfare, rather than aesthetic purposes)
- Agricultural supplies shops
- Mobility and disability support shops
- Storage and distribution facilities
- Car parks, public toilets and motorway service areas
- Outdoor playgrounds
- Outdoor gym, pools, sports courts and facilities
- Golf courses
- Archery/driving/shooting ranges (outdoors)
- Outdoor riding centres
- Places of worship
- Crematoriums and burial grounds
Thanks for the detailed information. I for one do appreciate the work you must have put in to keep us informed. Stay safe.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”C.S.Lewis.
Doesn’t affect me, why should it matter?
We should have this permanently as far as I’m concerned…
Destroying perfectly good businesses and putting people out of work .benefits nobody .
“MUST CLOSE” that sounds like enforceable rules, but who will enforce them, going by previous “we dont have the authority” no responsible body will, They failed to enforce the tier 4 travel rules, then they failed to enforce the tier 3 rules (lots of hospitality still open). When the “powers that be” cant apply the rules is there any surprise that growing numbers of the general public are following their example and disobeying the rules. I hope the Islanders and any Holiday makers still here, obey the rules and celebrate New Year quietly without socializing, start the new year with a fresh determination to stay safe – obey the rules – protect each other, because we can not rely on the MP, the Council leader, the director of public health or the ferry companies to do anything positive to protect us.
PLEASE everyone act responsibly, the vaccine is rolling out, there is light at the end of the tunnel it would be so much better if all our loved ones, friends and neighbours arrived with us alive and well. Then OH WHAT A PARTY WE CAN ALL HAVE
Destroying lives matters …
Some people just don’t do as they are told. They endanger everyone. They move too near to others and even brush against you at times. I couldn’t list all the people I have witnessed disobeying other rules. One person took her mask off on the bus to eat a snack for instance. There should be more enforcement of the rules, even if it means bringing the Army into it.