Many Manchester venues are either shut in in the process of shutting following the announcement yesterday by the Government..
The Royal Exchange Theatre announced that its performance last night of Rockets and Blue Lights has been cancelled
“Following the Government’ statement regarding COVID19 we have made the decision to cancel tonight’s performance of ROCKETS AND BLUE LIGHTS. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. We will continue to post further updates regarding tickets and future performances.” it statement read on Twitter.
The Palace Theatre and Opera House both announced their immediate closure.In a statement their parent Company AGT said that all Ambassador Group venues were to close immediately and would be consulting with Industry Bodies and the Government over the immediate future
Home have issued a statement that they will be closing from today
“The health and safety of our staff, visitors, artists and volunteers is of utmost importance to us, and we believe given the current national landscape it is not viable to remain open to the public at this time.
They added that:
During this period, it is critical that we continue to support our staff, artists and creative partners. We will be working closely with our peers across the city and indeed the country, and we are determined that Manchester’s incredible culture will emerge from this challenge stronger and more vibrant than ever. We will be publishing more on this in the coming days.
The Lowry also announced that it was closing tweeting
@This evening’s performance of The Tina Turner Experience will go-ahead as scheduled. The Lowry will close to the public from tmrw, Tues 17 Mar until Tues 31 Mar. If you have a ticket for an upcoming performance, please DO NOT contact us. Our box office will be in touch with you.”
Other theatres are following suit, Oldham Coliseum has shut from this evening as have the Royal Northern College of Music and Bridgewater Hall which has cancelled events up to and including Saturday March 21
Other concert venues now closed are Band on the Wall, Albert Hall and Soup Kitchen
Manchester Arena is still open but a number of events have already been cancelled while nearly all Manchester Academy concerts have now been cancelled.
The Whitworth Art Gallery is remaining open but to reduce the risk of Covid-19, the events & schools programme is cancelled.Manchester Art Gallery is taking the same action
Manchester’s Portico Library has also shut its doors and Manchester Museum will close from tonight as will the Museum of Science and Industry and the People’s History Museum
Sir Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive of the Science Museum Group, says in a statement issued this afternoon
ur mission is to inspire futures. But right now we need to focus on today and on the health and welfare of our visitors and colleagues as the nation comes together to deal with the threat of coronavirus.
So, following discussions with Government this afternoon, and guided by the science, we have decided that from this evening, 17 March and until further notice, we will close all of our sites to the public. This includes our five museums: the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester; Science Museum in London; National Railway Museum in York; National Science and Media Museum in Bradford; and Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham.
While our doors will be closed for a while, our collection – and the inspirational stories it contains – will remain open to you online. Our talented teams, who have dealt so professionally with the challenges of the past few weeks, will find new ways to ignite your curiosity and lift your spirits during some difficult days ahead.
Thank you for support for our museums and thank you for pulling together at this concerning time. We know you’ll bear with us; if you have tickets to upcoming events, we will be in touch soon.
Given the uncertainty we are all facing together, it is not possible to say when our museums will be able to re-open to visitors. But we look forward to welcoming back old friends and igniting the curiosity of many more people who haven’t yet had the chance to visit us.
For the time being, please stay safe and keep in touch with us through our social media channels.
The Met in Bury will be closed to the public from Wednesday 18 March, initially for a period of 2 weeks (up to and including 1 April).
With sporting events already shut down it was inevitable that the Manchester Marathon, which was due to take place on April 5, has been postponed, affecting around 26,000 runners who were expected to take part.
