England prepares to take its biggest step out of coronavirus restrictions on Monday 17 May as the country moves to the third stage of the government’s lockdown exit roadmap.
Rules on hugging, meeting indoors, and gathering in bigger groups are all changing from this date – returning many freedoms which have been banned for over six months in some parts of the country.
The current national lockdown has been lifted gradually since March 8 – proceeding smoothly with a steady decline in national cases accompanied by a mass vaccination campaign.
April 12 saw the return of non-essential retail, outdoor hospitality, gyms, personal care premises, outdoor attractions and self-contained accommodation.
But mounting concern over the spread of a more infectious strain of COVID-19 had begun to cast doubt as to whether more restrictions could be lifted as intended on May 17.
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Testing and vaccinations have been ramped up in towns where cases are spiking such as Bolton, and local lockdowns are not yet being ruled out – with infection rates set to be closely monitored in the coming weeks to determine if different action is required in future.
But crucially, ministers have agreed to “cautiously” proceed with the roadmap as planned – with May 17 marking a memorable day on the 2021 calendar for everyone in England.
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Here’s what’s set to change.
Social contact
Some restrictions on social contact are being removed from May 17 / Image: Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash
Restrictions on social contact are being removed from May 17.
Six people or two households can meet indoors from this date, whilst overnight stays are also allowed.
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Care home residents can also have up to five named visitors.
Gatherings of up to 30 people are now allowed outdoors.
Attendance numbers allowed at funerals are determined by the size of the venue.
Pubs, restaurants and cafes
Indoor hospitality is reopening from May 17 / Image: cottonbro via Pexels
Bars, restaurants, pubs and cafes right across the country are welcoming back customers this month.
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The hospitality sector is allowed to serve indoors from May 17 – having been operating on an outdoor-only basis since April 12.
Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester Sacha Lord embarked on a campaign to see the rules lifted earlier, and despite some initial success in helping convince judges to drop the substantial meal rule in pubs, his latest efforts to get indoor hospitality reopened sooner than May 17 were shut down in court.
Indoor service can resume from May 17 – although customers still have to order, eat and drink while seated.
Holidays can resume
Overseas travel and holidays will be permitted from May 17 / Image: Pexels
The door has reopened from domestic and international travel from May 17.
Hotels, hostels and B&Bs in England can take bookings for leisure purposes.
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Overseas holidays are also allowed again, but with restrictions. The government has introduced a travel system that categorises nations as ‘red’, ‘amber’ or ‘green’ depending on a number of risk factors – such as infection rates and the presence of variants.
The traffic light system is as follows:
Green: Arrivals will not need to quarantine when they arrive in England.
Amber: Arrivals must quarantine for 10 days when they arrive in England.
Red: Arrivals in England must stay for 10 days in a managed quarantine hotel.
Currently, a handful of countries have been added to the ‘green list’ – including Australia, New Zealand, Gibraltar, Iceland and Portugal.
Indoor culture and entertainment venues such as museums, theatres and cinemas all reopen from May 17 – with a big campaign launched in Manchester to welcome people back after 200 days of closures.
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Indoor adult group sports and exercise classes are allowed to recommence – with steam rooms and saunas also permitted to reopen.
Larger performances and sporting events with a reduced number of spectators will take place following a number of trial events this month.
From May 17, indoor venues can welcome up to 1,000 people or operate half-full (whichever is a lower number).
Outdoor venues can hold up to 4,000 people or operate at 50% capacity (whichever is a lower number).
In the largest outdoor seated venues, where crowds can be spread out, up to 10,000 people will be able to attend (or a quarter-full, whichever is lower).
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The roadmap to exiting lockdown can be found in full on the government website.
Featured image: WelcomeBackManchester
News
Manchester has been ranked one of the ‘most influential cities’ in Europe
Danny Jones
As per a development that we’d consider so obvious it’s barely worth writing about (even though we are), Manchester has been ranked one of the most influential cities in Europe.
In other news, water is still very much wet.
While there’s plenty of it here in Greater Manchester, given our standard rainy forecasts, when it comes to anything besides the weather, we deliver in spades.
Let’s be honest: we know it, you do too, and apparently so do plenty of other folks – and there’s some concrete statistics to back it up.
Case in point – First Chanel, now Vogue… (Credit: The Manc Group)
You’ll find all manner of surveys, polls and studies diving into how Manchester ranks across various categories, but knowing we boast nods such as ‘the original industrial city’, the place that helped split the atom and the place that the first modern computer was born, we know all about our global impact.
With that in mind, when we saw that Sixt had recently named us as one of the most influential cities in all of Europe, we couldn’t ignore the well-deserved pat on the back.
That’s right, although you might not associate the car rental company with this sort of stuff, as part of their new exclusive ‘Sixt Ride’ offering (think a posh taxi service), they looked into which cities have the most luxuries, tourist attractions and other cultural bonuses to their name.
Per their recent research, Manchester city centre didn’t just break into the top 100 but found itself among the 30 most influential cities in Europe.
You can see the full rankings table down below.
#
City
Country
*Fortune 500 Companies
Fashion weeks
Film Festivals
International Airports
5-Star Hotels
High End/Luxury Shopping areas
Michelin Restaurants
1
Paris
France
10
6
77
2
122
11
134
2
London
United Kingdom
12
3
241
3
182
5
81
3
Milan
Italy
1
4
52
3
29
5
22
4
Rome
Italy
2
0
97
2
65
4
21
5
Stockholm
Sweden
0
3
14
2
12
2
13
6
Madrid
Spain
5
0
38
1
42
2
29
7
Zurich
Switzerland
6
0
10
1
12
4
18
8
Munich
Germany
5
0
10
1
16
4
17
9
Berlin
Germany
1
1
76
1
40
2
21
10
Hamburg
Germany
1
0
16
2
17
3
16
11
Amsterdam
Netherlands
4
0
24
1
29
1
30
12
Copenhagen
Denmark
1
2
12
1
12
2
20
13
Barcelona
Spain
0
0
45
1
47
1
31
14
Lisbon
Portugal
1
0
38
1
49
1
20
15
Athens
Greece
0
0
41
1
52
2
12
16
Vienna
Austria
1
0
24
1
24
3
14
17
Bucharest
Romania
0
0
22
2
12
2
0
18
Warsaw
Poland
0
0
22
2
17
1
3
19
Glasgow
United Kingdom
0
0
17
2
4
2
2
20
Lyon
France
0
0
9
2
7
0
16
21
Prague
Czechia
0
0
16
1
60
1
2
22
Brussels
Belgium
0
0
18
1
14
1
29
23
Oslo
Norway
0
1
8
1
6
1
11
24
Manchester
United Kingdom
0
0
20
1
7
3
2
25
Budapest
Hungary
0
0
16
1
24
1
7
26
Dublin
Ireland
2
0
16
1
11
0
6
27
Naples
Italy
0
0
34
1
5
0
22
28
Porto
Portugal
0
0
8
1
28
0
10
29
Turin
Italy
1
0
21
1
4
0
10
30
Sofia
Bulgaria
0
0
22
1
14
1
0
31
Helsinki
Finland
0
0
5
1
10
1
5
32
Belgrade
Serbia
0
0
32
1
9
0
1
33
Marseille
France
0
0
5
1
4
0
12
34
Birmingham
United Kingdom
0
0
12
1
4
0
6
35
Minsk
Belarus
0
0
11
1
0
0
0
Read it and weep; we Mancs landed 24th on the leaderboard, just behind Norway’s capital, Oslo, and ever so slightly ahead of Budapest in Hungary.
As you can see, to identify the ‘most influential European cities’, they broke down how the 35 most populous cities on the continent and here UK (barring Russia and Ukraine) and what noteworthy cultural touchstones they possess.
For instance, did you hear that our very own Warehouse Project recently found itself breaking into the top half of the best nightclubs on the entire planet?
Going on to analyse everything from the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city, their connections to film, fashion, fine-dining and more, they found that Paris, London and Milan were the most influential (no surprises there), but we’re glad to be keeping such good company.
After all, in the last couple of years alone, Manchester city centre has welcomed the Metiers D’art fashion show, opened one of the biggest indoor entertainment venues in all of Europe, and still takes eternal credit for giving the world Oasis and, therefore, the Live ’25 reunion. Again, you’re welcome.
What do you make of Sixt’s study, and do you agree with their findings on the whole?
It goes without saying that we’d probably put ourselves higher on the list if anything, but then again, maybe we’re getting too used to being told how brilliant it is to live in this region.
Featured Images — Anthony Parkes (via Geograph)/The Manc Group
News
Police ‘delighted’ after Manchester man is jailed for running county lines drug operation
Emily Sergeant
A Manchester man has been jailed for his part in running a county lines drug operation that exploited vulnerable people.
Following an investigation by Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) County Lines Team, John Joyce, of Stuart Street in Manchester, was identified as operating a county lines drugs network that supplied Class A drugs across Greater Manchester, and was subsequently jailed for possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
The investigation – which uncovered extensive evidence of drug supply – found that Joyce was the controller of the “CEE” line – a mobile number used to distribute crack cocaine and heroin.
Among that ‘extensive’ evidence was more than 31,000 text messages and 8,700 calls linked to drug dealing activity, and ‘flare’ messages advertising drugs for sale sent in bulk, as well as forensic analysis linking Joyce to two personal mobile numbers and vehicles used during the operation.
CCTV footage was also uncovered showing Joyce purchasing top-up vouchers for the drugs line.
#JAILED | Man sentenced to over 5 years in prison for running county lines drug operation
Our County Lines Team investigation uncovered extensive evidence of drug supply & found he was the controller of the “CEE” line, a mobile number used to distribute crack cocaine & heroin pic.twitter.com/WAdej9lLxU
And the final nail in the coffin was that a search of the 28-year-old’s Manchester apartment uncovered more than 460g of crack cocaine, heroin, drug paraphernalia, and cash.
Joyce fled the UK and headed to Dubai in an attempt to evade justice, but was arrested upon his return at Manchester Airport in October 2025.
“This case demonstrates our commitment to dismantling county lines networks that exploit vulnerable people and blight communities,” explained Detective Constable Josh Claxton, of GMP’s County Lines Team.
“Joyce’s operation was significant and his sentence reflects the harm caused by class A drug supply in Greater Manchester.
The Manc -
17th May 2021 
