London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

UK coronavirus lockdown: what you can and cannot do

UK coronavirus lockdown: what you can and cannot do

Everything we know about the restrictions so far

Britain is now in lockdown, and all non-essential businesses must close.

But many questions remain after Monday night’s historic broadcast by the prime minister with many people unsure what they can and cannot do, or which businesses are essential and non-essential.

Interviews with cabinet members over the past 12 hours have shed some more light on the lists of things we can and cannot do.

How long does lockdown last?


At least three weeks.
What remains open?
Parks.
Supermarkets.
Food shops.
Health shops.
Pharmacies, including non-dispensing chemists.
Petrol stations.
Bicycle shops.
Home and hardware stores.
Laundrettes and dry cleaners.
Car rentals.
Pet shops.
Corner shops.
Newsagents.
Post offices.
Banks.
Ordered to close
Restaurants and cafes (exceptions: they can offer food delivery and takeaways).
Workplace canteens (exceptions: canteens in hospitals, care homes, schools, prisons and military canteens, services providing food or drink to the homeless).
Pubs.
Bars and nightclubs, including bars in hotels and members’ clubs.
Hair, beauty and nail salons.
Piercing and tattoo parlours.
Massage parlours.
Auction houses.
Car showrooms.
Caravan parks/sites for commercial use (exceptions: parks where people live permanently, or those used by people as interim abodes where their primary residence is not available).
Libraries.
Playgrounds.
Outdoor gyms.
All shops selling non-essential goods, including clothing and electronic stores.
Community centres, youth centres (exceptions: halls may remain open to host essential voluntary or public services such as food banks and facilities for homeless people).
Churches, mosques and places of worship (exceptions: they can remain open for “solitary prayer”, for funerals with social distancing – the mourners two metres apart – and for live-streaming).
Cinemas (exceptions: live-streaming of a performance if the group of workers exercise social distancing).
Museums and galleries.
Bingo halls.
Casinos and betting shops.
Spas.
Skating rinks.
Gyms.
Swimming pools.
Playgrounds.
Enclosed spaces in parks, including tennis courts and pitches for football, bowling etc, and outdoor gyms (equipment could become contaminated by human touch).
Prisons in England and Wales are closed to visitors.
Services, free movement and work that can continue (according to written government guidance and interviews in past 12 hours)
Advertisement


You should not:

Visit friends in their home.
Meet family members who do not live in your home.
Leaving home
Going out for these reasons is allowed, but limited:

Shopping for basic necessities: “as infrequently as possible”.
Taking one form of exercise a day, for example, a run, walk, or cycle: alone or with members of your household.

Dog walking is permitted as part of the exercise people can take per day. Households with two or more members can take it in turns to walk their dog so the dog gets more than one walk a day.
To look after any medical need, to provide care, or to help a vulnerable person.
To donate blood.
Children aged under 18 with separated parents can visit both homes.
To travel to and from work, “but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home”.
For essential work (listed here), including work on construction sites, although there have been conflicting instructions. The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “If you are working on site, you can continue to do so. But follow Public Health England guidance on social distancing.”


However, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has said building workers should not be going to work today unless they are working for safety reasons.


Emergency callouts, but social distancing of two metres must be observed. The minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove, gave the example on BBC Radio 4 of a plumber called out to fix an elderly person’s boiler.
Online shopping.
Social events that are banned
Weddings.
Baptisms and other events, including sporting events.
Visiting family members you do not live with.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×