Another day, another update: the COVID-19 chronicles

If you’re anything like us you’ve currently got cleaner hands than you’ve ever had in your life before and you’re waking up everyday hoping to hear that the worst is past and we can all get back to normal.

At present, we are open as usual and we are monitoring the situation on a daily basis. We have taken and will continue to take several additional measures in order to help protect you, our lovely customers.

We are following official guidance from the Government, Local Authority and Public Health England . The Government action plan advises that there is currently no rationale to to close or cancel sporting events, but this may change as the situation evolves. If you'd like to hear more on this then this conversation between the Prime Minister and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer may be of interest.

What are we doing?

• We’re ensuring all of our staff are up to date on actions and precautions

• Cleaning high contact points (door handles, reception desk etc) more regularly

• Removing unnecessary contact points (e.g propping doors open)

• Adding posters to the bathrooms to show proper hand-washing beta

• (Perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek) Adding toe-hooks to the bathroom doors

What can you do?

• Wash your hands thoroughly and regularly

• Use tissues to catch and dispose of germs

• Avoid touching your face (mouth, nose, eyes in particular) as much as possible

• Use contactless payment methods rather than cash

• Stay home if you’re sick (even if your symptoms aren’t consistent with COVID-19, whatever it is that you’ve got, we don’t want it!) – on this occasion, sharing isn’t caring!

• There is a (tiny) possibility that liquid chalk might be a good option – it’s got alcohol in it… (We’ve got no science to back this up, it’s just a thought)

Please keep coming climbing, we want to be here when this thing clears up and if the past few days are anything to go by then we’re really going to struggle. Whilst it’s not true for everyone who reads this, the reality is that, as someone who climbs here, you are probably fit and healthy and will fall into lower risk demographics.

Finally we’d like to express our heartfelt thanks to those members who have already approached us to let us know that they want to continue to pay their memberships even in the event that we have to close; your support means the world to us and we’re so glad to have been able to create a space that you feel so passionately about.

Hope to see you all climbing again soon!

Fred, Kirsten & The Team