Music Venues Allowed To Stay Open Past 10pm As Long As Show Has Already Started

Following Tuesday's announcement of new coronavirus restrictions that might last for the next six months, it has been confirmed that music venues don't fall under the same umbrella of pubs, bars and restaurants having to adhere to a 10pm curfew. But there's just one catch: gigs can only carry on past 10pm as long as they have already started before that time.

Along with theatres and cinemas, music venues across the UK can stay open beyond the newly-imposed government curfew, with a spokesperson at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport telling NME that “dedicated music venues may conclude after the 10pm curfew as long as a performance starts before 10pm, however outlets, including bars, must be closed by this point”.

Read this: Grassroots venues are about more than music

Praising this news, the Music Venue Trust encouraged future gig-goers to “respect all the measures introduced by your local grassroots music venue to ensure that your gigging experience is taking place in a COVID Secure Venue… and enjoy the show!”

In a wider statement addressing the 10pm curfew and its effect on “night-time economy spaces”, they called the situation “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.

“If it is required to be done for the protection of public health, then it should, we regrettably agree, be done. In the event of a 10pm curfew being required on the basis of scientific evidence, HM Government must recognise that this is a decision that must be made for the benefit of the country, and that therefore the country has a responsibility to the businesses and people impacted by that decision.

“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.”

Read this: Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil on grassroots venues: “If the government doesn't get it right, we're losing one of the UK's most valuable assets”