UK coronavirus live: beauty salons, outdoor theatres, gyms and pools to reopen in England
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Indoor gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres will open on July 25 with new guidance on spacing out and cleaning equipment, limiting the number of people in facilities and smaller class sizes.
Outdoor pools can reopen from 11 July, while certain team sports such as cricket will also be able to return from this weekend.
Gym, spa and salon owners have reacted with delight and relief at the Government’s latest rollback on current lockdown restrictions. The Press Association reports:
Richard Darwin, chief executive of The Gym Group – which runs 179 gyms across the UK, said he was “delighted” by the announcement:
Reopening gyms is an important step forward for the physical and mental wellbeing of our members and millions of other gym goers, and we can’t wait to welcome them all back.
We are really confident our new procedures will ensure that we can operate safely, with distanced equipment, enhanced cleaning and our busyness tracker to help manage the number of people in the gym.
I am incredibly pleased that we have a definite date for reopening our 57 health clubs in England.
The fitness sector is vitally important, both for the nation’s health and the economy.
While we welcome the decision to finally allow us to reopen, the Government could have allowed us to open last week, when hairdressers reopened.
We are ready to reopen today, not next week.
It’s good news to see the Government announce the reopening of thousands more small firms across England.
Beauticians, nail salons, gyms and the wider fitness sector have faced months without customers, and they’ll be pleased to see that they can finally get back to business.
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