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If I were to sum up the feeling in Blackpool this weekend, “exhaustion” would probably cover it.
At midnight on Saturday, Blackpool, its businesses and residents entered the highest level of local lockdown – Level 3.
The coastal city so famous for its illuminations now has another message in the lights: “Spread goodness, not goodness. Virus“a well-lit sign read to visitors on the boardwalk.
A welcome, tinged with warning.
Blackpool has entered the highest level of local lockdown, Level 3
Non-food pubs and bars have been completely closed, as they have throughout Lancashire.
But companies that have been allowed to stay open don’t have it much easier.
Jen Gleeson and her husband Ryan run a comedy club in the center of town.
“We will continue, until we cannot,” he tells me, adding: “But it’s just a nightmare.”
The club spent weeks getting COVID-19– safe, but with reduced capacity – and now fewer visitors are expected due to the new restrictions – they just hang on.
Blackpool promenade is unlikely to see many visitors under Level 3 restrictions
“We are waiting for a circuit breaker lockout also at some point, “says Jen.
“We have programs planned and clients booked and they are calling us to see if we are going to be open and we don’t know and we can’t get guidance yes or no in any way.
“It pushes us into a position where we don’t know if we will be able to provide a livelihood for our people,” Ryan told us, “much less ourselves and keep our business going.
“It’s very, very stressful right now.”
It feels like an understatement.
Much of Blackpool is dependent on tourism, but overnight stays have been discouraged for people traveling in and out of Level 3.
On Saturday, the people we saw were mostly hikers, making the most of a dry and mild Saturday.
B & Bs and hotels have had reservation weeks canceled overnight.
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“It’s going to hurt, absolutely,” says Alan Cavill, city council’s tourism director.
“The last two weeks of October is what you see for most businesses here during the winter.
“There will certainly be layoffs and there will certainly be business failures.”
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Like Merseyside, local Lancashire leaders must strike a balance: a compromise between the economy and public health.
Dave Nicholls, one of dozens of COVID sheriffs employed by the council we saw on Saturday, is confident they have made the right decision.
“He’s freaking out right now with people coming to Blackpool who shouldn’t be here to begin with,” he says.
“When we first locked ourselves in in March, I spent eight weeks cleaning up COVID ambulances and it wasn’t a pretty sight. I don’t want to see that again in Blackpool.”
For Dave, this feels personal. He has elderly parents, he says, who survived the first wave.
These restrictions, he says, may save them for the next one.
Other 16,171 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the UK on Saturday, with 150 more deaths.
The total number of positive cases nationwide now stands at 705,428, according to government figures.
