100,000 jobs will face axe at gyms
SWIMMING pools and gyms could reopen from mid-July if the coronavirus threat continues to recede, a Cabinet minister revealed yesterday.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma raised hopes amid fears that up to 100,000 jobs may be lost if restrictions remain in place.
He told Sky News: “I hope that we can allow leisure facilities to open at some point later on in July but only if we continue to meet the health tests, the five tests that we’ve put in place.”
His remarks followed widespread disappointment among fitness organisations that swimming pools and gyms cannot restart on July 4, while pubs and restaurants will be allowed to welcome back customers. Baroness Grey-Thompson, an 11-times paralympic gold medal winner, wrote to Boris Johnson yesterday to urge him to publish the Government’s reasons.
The crossbench peer, who is chairman of UKactive, an organisation representing 7,000 public and private gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools, also asked for a meeting with Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty to discuss the issue.
In her letter, she warned that 100,000 jobs could be lost in the leisure industry if fitness centres are forced to stay shut.
She wrote: “The consequences of further delays and ambiguity are stark.
“To lose these facilities in the midst of the biggest health crisis could set back public health for a generation.The loss would be catastrophic to communities.”
Jane Nickerson, chief executive of Swim England, added: “We are frustrated and angry.We just feel massively let down.
“It’s heartbreaking.”