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Different pandemic restrictions now apply in Wales, England and Scotland. While council workers in Cardiff pack up the city’s Winter Wonderland attraction days earlier than planned, left, people in England are practising partying for New Year’s Eve. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have both imposed tough hospitality rules, including restrictions on the numbers that can meet up at venues and bringing back social distancing.

It leaves England as the best place for a party after Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed no new rules would be put in place before New Year’s Day at the earliest. Jealous Welsh and Scots revellers have been taking to social media and making plans to hop over the border to cities such as Bristol and Newcastle.

Pubs there are preparing for an influx of customers, with one venue expecting coaches full of revellers to arrive on New Year’s Eve. But Rich Watkin, director of the Fat Boar pub in Flintshire, North Wales, said: “What we need is an equal chance of surviving, regardless of what side of the border we are on. It’s not a level playing field.”

Despite the uptick in business in England, hospitality venues are expecting a dismal few months after the New Year. Baroness McGregor-Smith, president of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “In January, February, March we have increasing labour costs and increasing energy costs, among many other costs. I am delighted to see that we are protecting New Year’s Eve but it just won’t go far enough.”

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