‘Finally, we can dance’: Clubbers welcomed back for first time since start of pandemic as restrictions ease

Long queues form at venues from London to Leeds as revellers return

Clubbers were welcomed back onto dancefloors across England at one minute past midnight on Monday as Covid rules were eased.

Long queues formed at venues from London to Leeds as revellers returned to nightclubs for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Despite facing a new wave of coronavirus with cases rising sharply, Boris Johnson is forging ahead with lifting most restrictions in what some have dubbed “Freedom Day”.

Epidemiologists have warned that lifting restrictions is risky, but for many young people – the majority of whom will have only been offered their first dose of a Covid vaccine – the lifting of restrictions and chance to party was welcomed.

“I have not been allowed to dance for like what seems like forever,” said Georgia Pike, 31, at the Oval Space in Hackney, east London. “I want to dance, I want to hear live music, I want the vibe of being at a gig, of being around other people.”

Promoters of the event, Rob Broadbent and Max Wheeler-Bowden put up a video of themselves getting a Covid test and urged those told to isolate to do so.

But they said they reduced the number of bands and the number of venues and lost money on the event because fewer people than expected attended.

At Egg nightclub in north London, people queued for several hours to get in. “This is a New Year's-type event and something we're going to remember for a long, long time and we might not get the opportunity for a while,” said Chloe Waite, 37, who was first in the queue.

Gabriel Wildsmith, 26, from London, who was also waiting in line, said: “I'm so excited I've been waiting for this for so long ... basically since we locked down.”

And Liam Turner, 24, from Banbury, said: ”I need a wee but we're in the queue, I've missed the feeling. We're so keen, it's been so many months, too many months so I'm just glad to be back. I've missed the buzz of being in the queue going into a club.”

Excitement for the return of nightlife after a year and a half of enforced closure was just as evident in Leeds.

“Finally, we're going to be able to dance. That's the biggest thing, which is kind of a little bit sad really, because we're given back something that's our given right, to be able to dance in a bar, in a club,” said venue owner Terry George.

Lorna Feeney, who was at Bar Fibre in Leeds, said: ”I'm absolutely ecstatic. That's my life, my soul - I love dancing. It bonds me, it's amazing, it makes me feel so good.”

Additional reporting by agencies.