Halifax tourist destination plans to re-open by 'early summer'

As the Government looks to ease Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, major tourist destinations and public places are preparing to throw open their doors for the first time in nine weeks, including the Piece Hall.

Nicky Chance-Thompson, Piece Hall Trust Chief Executive, said her team aim to re-open the Halifax venue to the public by early summer with a view to get non-essential shops back in business.

She said: “It’s important for morale to talk about reopening.

“We’re aiming to steadily reopen the Piece Hall by early summer, but there’s no concrete answer right now.

“We want to allow non-essential shops to reopen because they only get one or two customers at a time, so it will be easy to maintain social distance.

“It’s important we operate safely, which is why when we open there will be a limit on the number of people allowed in the Piece Hall at any one time.

“There’s an appetite to visit tourist spots again, but we must ensure people feel confident and safe to do so.

“It’s up to industries to approach the government and give creative ways of dealing with reopening business.”

Eureka, the National Children’s Museum in Halifax, has launched a consultation to see how it could open in the future.

Leigh-Anne Stradeski, Eureka’s chief executive, said: “The COVID-19 crisis is having an immediate and serious impact on all charitable and cultural organisations such as Eureka! who depend on generating income from ticket sales, our shop, our café and car parks,

“We’re consulting with our visitors on the steps they’d like to see in place once Eureka! can start to welcome families back.

“Our priority at Eureka! is the safety and wellbeing of our staff team and the families and children who visit us. We are closely monitoring advice from the government, and learning from the experiences of museums and science centres all around the world as they slowly ease lockdowns in other countries.

"We're consulting with our visitors on the steps they’d like to see in place once Eureka! can start to welcome them back, but we are being very cautious and will only re-open our doors once we are sure that it is safe to do so.

"We’ve been delighted with the response to our EurekaAtHome digital content and extremely grateful to all those who are supporting us during our closure period.”