Cheltenham students return to the dancefloor after 16 month ‘blame game’
It had been almost exactly sixteen months since young adults lugged themselves across a sticky club carpet and ordered sickly alcopops at a bar.
But July 19, 2021 changed this.
Across England, young people, and some older ones, have been heading out to parties and clubs with the easing of coronavirus restrictions, which completely eradicated capacity rules for social events.
On a local level, Cheltenham club, MooMoo Clubrooms, welcomed its clubbers back with a ‘Coming out of my cage’ party, which saw hundreds of people scrambling to buy tickets back in February for the initially planned June 21 reopening.
Of course, things did not quite go as originally planned, but nevertheless, the excitement in the air on Thursday, July 22 — the day the club night finally happened — cut through clubgoers like the thumping bass from the speakers.
For many young people, it felt like a ‘damned if we do, damned if we don’t’ situation.
Hannah Ireland is a 20 year old university student from Quedgeley, Gloucester, who finally went out for the first time on July 22. For her, coronavirus had been a ‘blame game’.
The forensic psychology student said: “It was the government who decided to open universities and schools up, but [the blame] was very much on uni students,
“I saw on Facebook, people were saying: ‘Uni students should stay on and help at testing sites instead of spreading covid’,
“It felt like a lot of blame game; the government opened campuses and we went out when the pubs were reopened, but there was never really a statistic to say it was uni students spreading it more.
“Nobody really blamed school children for schools reopening but said university students were partying everyday — which was not the case.”
But now they can legally party everyday, if they so wished, university students are taking all the precautions they can to ensure the safety of themselves and everybody else.
20-year-old Beth Gallacher, from St. Pauls, is one of many young people doing lateral flow tests prior to going clubbing, and only going out if the test returns a negative result.
She said: “I have been doing lateral flow tests before going out as I think it would be irresponsible to go out to a club without ensuring I do not have covid as being in such a close proximity to others would pass it onto many people,
“I would hope that other people are taking the same precautions as it would be easy for the government to blame any rise in cases on young people going to clubs.”
When 56 people between the ages of 18–25 were asked if they were taking lateral flow tests prior to going clubbing, 48 said yes, whilst just eight said no.
At the local Wetherspoons on Bath Road, many young people were enjoying a maskless round of pre-drinks, although several still did wear masks on entry to the pub, and when going to the toilet.
In a move reminiscent of the ‘old normal’, as it is now fondly referred to, many pubgoers were standing at the bar and around tables chatting, moving furniture around to accommodate extra friends.
As the evening went on and the sun disappeared behind Cheltenham’s regency buildings, young people slowly trickled out of the pub and made their way to MooMoo Clubrooms.
But what were the risks of their night out?
In June, the Netherlands dropped restrictions and reopened nightclubs. As a result, coronavirus infections jumped by a whopping 500%. (independent)
By early July, nightclubs, restaurants and bars were forced to either close or operate outdoor service only.
Despite visiting nightclubs and having a good time, some young people found the experience of going back into a club to almost feel ‘wrong’.
Speaking after the event, Gloucestershire College student Bradley Collins said: “It felt quite surreal because nobody was wearing a mask,
“For the past year, it has been almost frowned upon if you were not wearing a mask so it was odd to see, especially in an environment where everyone was close together.
“It almost felt wrong.
“I was still very cautious of the whole pandemic, but I tried not to think too much about it and tried to act like it was normal.
“My favourite part of the night was being in an environment with other people again, regardless of whether I knew them or not, and seeing them all enjoying themselves and having a good night — it’s been a rare sight in the last year and a half.”
MooMoo Clubrooms is one of many businesses partnered with Cheltenham Business Improvement District (Cheltenham BID).
Belinda Hunt, Operations Manager of Cheltenham BID, said: “Cheltenham BID is delighted that the eclectic mix of nightclubs in the town will finally be able to re-open after such a long lockdown. It is a vibrant and important part of Cheltenham’s night-time economy,
“We have supported so many of our businesses with advice, information and guidance as they have reopened and we look forward to supporting this sector too,
“As the food and beverage sector reopened carefully and cautiously with learnings on how to manage safely, I am sure that they will share their experiences with the nightclubs as they reopen,
“The BID is excited that businesses in the hospitality sector will finally get back to normality and provide the good times missed by so many during the pandemic,
“We wish them all the very best, and look forward to seeing Cheltenham back to a new level of normality as we begin our second term.”
