London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Nov 25, 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
UK Economy Stalls as Reeves Faces First Budget Test
UK Economy’s Weak Start Adds Pressure on Prime Minister Starmer
UK Government Acknowledges Billionaire Exodus Amid Tax Rise Concerns
UK Budget 2025: Markets Brace as Chancellor Faces Fiscal Tightrope
UK Unveils Strategic Plan to Secure Critical Mineral Supply Chains
UK Taskforce Calls for Radical Reset of Nuclear Regulation to Cut Costs and Accelerate Build
UK Government Launches Consultation on Major Overhaul of Settlement Rules
Google Struggles to Meet AI Demand as Infrastructure, Energy and Supply-Chain Gaps Deepen
Car Parts Leader Warns Europe Faces Heavy Job Losses in ‘Darwinian’ Auto Shake-Out
Arsenal Move Six Points Clear After Eze’s Historic Hat-Trick in Derby Rout
Wealthy New Yorkers Weigh Second Homes as the ‘Mamdani Effect’ Ripples Through Luxury Markets
Families Accuse OpenAI of Enabling ‘AI-Driven Delusions’ After Multiple Suicides
UK Unveils Critical-Minerals Strategy to Break China Supply-Chain Grip
Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” Extends U.K. No. 1 Run to Five Weeks
UK VPN Sign-Ups Surge by Over 1,400 % as Age-Verification Law Takes Effect
Former MEP Nathan Gill Jailed for Over Ten Years After Taking Pro-Russia Bribes
Majority of UK Entrepreneurs Regard Government as ‘Anti-Business’, Survey Shows
UK’s Starmer and US President Trump Align as Geneva Talks Probe Ukraine Peace Plan
UK Prime Minister Signals Former Prince Andrew Should Testify to US Epstein Inquiry
Royal Navy Deploys HMS Severn to Shadow Russian Corvette and Tanker Off UK Coast
China’s Wedding Boom: Nightclubs, Mountains and a Demographic Reset
Fugees Founding Member Pras Michel Sentenced to 14 Years in High-Profile US Foreign Influence Case
WhatsApp’s Unexpected Rise Reshapes American Messaging Habits
United States: Judge Dressed Up as Elvis During Hearings – and Was Forced to Resign
Johnson Blasts ‘Incoherent’ Covid Inquiry Findings Amid Report’s Harsh Critique of His Government
Lord Rothermere Secures £500 Million Deal to Acquire Telegraph Titles
Maduro Tightens Security Measures as U.S. Strike Threat Intensifies
U.S. Envoys Deliver Ultimatum to Ukraine: Sign Peace Deal by Thursday or Risk Losing American Support
Zelenskyy Signals Progress Toward Ending the War: ‘One of the Hardest Moments in History’ (end of his business model?)
U.S. Issues Alert Declaring Venezuelan Airspace a Hazard Due to Escalating Security Conditions
The U.S. State Department Announces That Mass Migration Constitutes an Existential Threat to Western Civilization and Undermines the Stability of Key American Allies
Students Challenge AI-Driven Teaching at University of Staffordshire
Pikeville Medical Center Partners with UK’s Golisano Children’s Network to Expand Pediatric Care
Germany, France and UK Confirm Full Support for Ukraine in US-Backed Security Plan
UK Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods Face Rising Backlash as Pandemic Schemes Unravel
UK Records Coldest Night of Autumn as Sub-Zero Conditions Sweep the Country
UK at Risk of Losing International Doctors as Workforce Exodus Grows, Regulator Warns
ASU Launches ASU London, Extending Its Innovation Brand to the UK Education Market
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Visit China in January as Diplomatic Reset Accelerates
Google Launches Voluntary Buyouts for UK Staff Amid AI-Driven Company Realignment
UK braces for freezing snap as snow and ice warnings escalate
Majority of UK Novelists Fear AI Could Displace Their Work, Cambridge Study Finds
UK's Carrier Strike Group Achieves Full Operational Capability During NATO Drill in Mediterranean
Trump and Mamdani to Meet at the White House: “The Communist Asked”
Nvidia Again Beats Forecasts, Shares Jump in After-Hours Trading
Wintry Conditions Persist Along UK Coasts After Up to Seven Centimetres of Snow
UK Inflation Eases to 3.6 % in October, Opening Door for Rate Cut
UK Accelerates Munitions Factory Build-Out to Reinforce Warfighting Readiness
UK Consumer Optimism Plunges Ahead of November Budget
A Decade of Innovation Stagnation at Apple: The Cook Era Critique
×