Hospitality businesses in Wales to close at 6pm on Christmas Day

On 28 December, at the end of the five-day Christmas period, tighter lockdown restrictions for staying at home will come into force, Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced.

Wales will move from level three to level four on this date, with the country essentially going into a national lockdown.

Drakeford said that he was allowing restaurants and pubs to stay open until 6pm on Christmas Day to ensure people who live alone can still go out for a Christmas celebration, and that the deadline would allow the industry to be able to close in an orderly fashion in preparation for lockdown.

“We know that many people who live alone arrange their Christmas by booking a meal on Christmas Day, so that they can be in the company of other people,” he said.

“I wanted to be able to honour that so that those people do not face an even bleaker Christmas, even more alone than they otherwise would be with all the other harms that come from that.

“Allowing hospitality to continue to 6pm on Christmas Day protects the plans that people have made, particularly those who are lonely and isolated, and allows the industry itself to come to an orderly close.”