// Off-licences added to list of essential businesses that can stay open during lockdown
// The vast majority of retailers were ordered to shut down, except for food retailers and convenience stores
// Licensed shops selling alcohol made the updated list of stores exempted from mass closures
Off-licence retailers have been added to the government’s list of high street businesses that can remain open to help keep the country running during the coronavirus crisis.
With pubs, bars, hair and beauty salons, and the vast majority of retailers ordered to temporarily close to stem the spread of Covid-19, off-licence retailers were added to the list of shops allowed to stay open today.
Licensed shops selling alcohol, including those in breweries, also made the updated list of stores exempted from mass closures in the retail sector.
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Corner shops, pharmacies, supermarkets, hardware stores, banks and petrol stations can also stay open during the lockdown.
On Monday night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the closure of all non-essential stores as he plunged the UK into a lockdown to ease the burden on the NHS.
Pubs, bars, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres had already been told to shut their doors in an effort to prevent the spread on people mixing closely in public.
Places of worship must also close, apart from for funerals, as must libraries, museums, galleries and bingo halls.
with PA Wires
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