Decision to close cinemas from Friday slammed

Cinemas in Wales will be forced to closed due to new coronavirus restrictions announced by Welsh Government.

The new restrictions will come into force from Friday, December 4.

Bowling alleys and other entertainment venues will also be forced to close, while pubs, cafes and restaurants will have to close by 6pm, with the consumption of alcohol banned in those venues.

The new rules have been slammed by those within the cinema industry.

Steven Reynolds MBE, director of Picturedrome, which owns Blackwood’s Maxime Cinema, accused Welsh Government of “not doing their homework” and said Track and Trace “doesn’t show a single case from a cinema in the whole of the UK”.

“We can’t improve on that safety,” Mr Reynolds said.

“We’ve been treated unfairly. This hasn’t been handled well at all.”

He added: “Cinemas were closed for four weeks longer in Wales than in England after the first lockdown, then we had six weeks of local lockdown, then the 17-day firebreak lockdown and now this. We were open for three weeks and now we have to close again.”

However, Mr Reynolds thanked the public for the support they have shown the cinema.

He said: “The people of Blackwood and surrounding areas have supported us in a big way.

“Maxime will survive because of that support.”

Meanwhile, cinemas in Tier 3 areas of England are also required to close, having been shut throughout England’s lockdown, which ended on Tuesday (December 2).

UK Cinema Association chief executive Phil Clapp said: “This Association and its members [which include Maxime Cinema] have worked extraordinarily hard, in consultation with Government, to put wide-reaching safeguarding measures in place in all UK cinemas.

“Not only are these appreciated by audiences – with our latest industry survey suggesting that 93% of returning cinema-goers reporting that they had felt safe during their visit – but more importantly have resulted in no recorded cases of Covid being traced back to any UK cinema.”

Mr Clapp added: “As we approach Christmas, a time when families typically return to the big screen, this decision, based as it seems to be on little or no evidence of risk – will make the continued survival of many cinemas all the more challenging.”

“We would ask that this decision is reconsidered as a matter of urgency if we are not to see further damage done to the UK cinema sector.”

On Tuesday, December 1, Mark Drakeford said there were no easy decisions and that it was made after viewing the success of tier three restrictions in England and Scotland where the virus transmission rate has dropped.

He also reiterated that the latest round of coronavirus business support will be more generous than its equivalent in England and Scotland.