LEADERS in Ledbury have welcomed the town being placed in tier two restrictions when lockdown ends.

This means non-essential shops, salons, restaurants and pubs which serve meals can welcome back customers – but households won’t be able to mix indoors unless they’re in the same bubble.

All of Herefordshire will be in the middle tier when the lockdown ends at one minute past midnight on Wednesday December 2. This is a high alert category and a strengthening of measures for the market town.

Homend trader Annette Crowe, former chairman of the Ledbury Traders’ Association, said: “As long as I can get to see my children and grandchildren at Christmas, I can put up with the rest. But for some people, living alone, the idea of being able to see friends at Christmas was giving them the hope they need.

“For new businesses, not so much established businesses like ourselves, it has been really difficult during the lockdown, and in Ledbury we have a lot of pubs employing a lot of people in town, and they are desperate to get back to normal. And shops rely on cafes, especially in the winter time, people want somewhere warm to go, so anything that impacts on cafes impacts on shops too.”

Tier 2 restrictions mean no socialising with anyone you do not live with or who is not in your support bubble, in any indoor setting. People must not socialise in a group of more than six people outside, including in a garden or a public space.

Businesses and venues can continue to operate, “in a Covid-secure manner”; but pubs and bars must close, unless operating as restaurants. Hospitality venues can only serve alcohol with substantial meals, with last orders at 10pm.

Ledbury is in tier two because the county has been identified as “an area with a higher or rapidly rising level of infection”.

Karen Wright, Herefordshire’s director of public health, said: “I want to say thank you to our residents and businesses who have continued to follow national guidance so we can limit virus transmission in our communities."

Public attendance at performances and shows is permitted, limited to whichever is lower: 50% capacity, or either 2,000 people outdoors or 1,000 people indoors. Places of worship remain open but people must not socialise with people from outside their household or support bubble while they are there. Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on numbers of attendees – 15 people can attend wedding ceremonies and receptions, 30 people can attend funeral ceremonies.

And organised outdoor sport, and physical activity and exercise classes can continue “only if it is possible for people to avoid mixing with people they do not live with”.

Stricter measures have been welcomed by some Ledbury people.

Louis Calleja of John Nash Antiques said: “I would rather miss a Christmas and then get everything right by February. Whatever they say, I am happy to do. We have all learnt our lesson over the past nine months. The moment we start relaxing, Covid cases start exploding.”

Ledbury county councillor, Phillip Howells understood the logic for tier two.

He said: “We have a small population in Herefordshire, but that means any case is a large proportion of the population. The response to Covid is a mix: how do you keep people safe and make sure the economy doesn’t suffer? I can understand the frustrations.

“The first lockdown was in good weather with long days, and that was less detrimental to peoples’ mental health. Even when people are not prone to anxiety or mental health issues, this is hard.”

Concerning the idea of a 5-day Christmas window, so family and friends can see each other, Cllr Howells said he had “mixed feelings about it” but it was “an issue of balance”, given the need to maintain mental health among the population.