Music Venue Trust issues response to UK government's 10pm coronavirus curfew

Yesterday (22 September) Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new coronavirus restrictions for England following a spike in new COVID-19 cases. Among those measures is a new 10pm curfew for pubs, bars and restaurants, which are also restricted to table service only.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden further clarified the 10pm curfew on Twitter yesterday (22 September) afternoon, writing, "This will apply across a range of hospitality and leisure sectors including casinos. It will not apply to theatres and cinemas where performances may run over the 10pm deadline."

Music Venue Trust have since shared an "official non-statement statement" responding to the curfew. They also shared a statement of clarification from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which confirms that "cinemas, theatres and concert halls can continue beyond 10pm but only if the performance started before 10pm and alcohol cannot be served after 10pm."

"Based on this statement from DCMS, MVT cannot therefore officially comment on the impact of these new restrictions since it is not clear how Grassroots Music Venues will be affected," Music Venue Trust wrote. "We assume that if the government believes that seated audiences enjoying a cultural event should be permitted to do so until the completion of that event, then that belief will obviously extend equally to the enjoyment of rap performance as it does to a classical music piece."

The response continues, "Closing night-time economy spaces is a serious measure with very significant impacts upon people’s businesses, jobs and livelihoods. Closing them during their most economically rewarding hours, 10pm to 1am, is an equally serious measure which will have precisely the same impacts."

Music Venue Trust also urged the government to extent its furlough scheme for people in the live events industry, "Businesses impacted by this decision must have the full furlough scheme extended immediately, and a financial support package must be created and provided to ensure such businesses survive this crisis."

Our Official Non-Statement Statement on the 10PM Curfew. Please read. https://t.co/K5FmRTEWiz pic.twitter.com/TrjnQ3ViNT

— Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) September 22, 2020