All pubs and restaurants in Bolton, Greater Manchester, have been told to shut, apart from for take-aways, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced in the Commons this afternoon. Hospitality venues will also have to close entirely between the hours of 10pm-5am, in a bid to curb night life. Rules stopping people from mixing outside of their households has also been made into law.
But locals have reacted furiously to the news, as last week they were told last week local lockdown restrictions would be easing.
One person wrote on Twitter: “So Bolton is the test bed for public reaction to a second lockdown. What utter nonsense this all is.”
Another local fumed: “COVID-19 Restrictions tighter still for Bolton. Yet there is a road which marks the border between Bolton & Wigan.
“People on the Bolton side are in strict lockdown, while in the houses opposite ( Wigan) the people are free to go about their business. Govt haven’t a clue.”
A third said: “People of Bolton can’t visit relatives whom they would trust to be taking “covid” precautions, but can still go into the workplace, supermarket etc mixing with strangers?”
One person said it didn’t make sense for restaurants to be closed, and said: “Bolton hospital is literally empty, infection rate is down to households mixing so why destroy restaurants?”
Another person condemned the Health Secretary for grouping all constituency areas of Bolton together.
They wrote: “Why lump everyone in Bolton in the same pott? There’s virtually no new cases in our ward, yet we’re treated like the unwashed scruffs in areas like Deane and Halliwell.
“Your strategy is futile; just stick with herd immunity and Darwinism.”
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“And through our contacting tracing system we’ve identified a number of pubs at which the virus has spread significantly.
“We’re therefore taking the following action in Bolton starting immediately.
“We will restrict all hospitality to takeaways-only and we’ll introduce a late-night restriction of operating hours which will mean all venues will be required to close from 10pm to 5am.
“We’ll introduce urgently further measures that put the current guidance that people cannot socialise outside their household into law.”
