Plymouth Pavilions: “We’re open, but it’s not quite business as usual…”

This week Plymouth Pavilions have announced that their doors will reopen to the public for the first time since March 2020 but it might not quite be the trip to the Pavilions you’ve been used to before!

Plymouth Pavilions are incredibly proud to be able to offer their space in the effort to start vaccinating Plymouth residents against Covid-19; a consortium of city centre surgeries have come together to establish a temporary vaccination centre at the Pavilions, using sections of the building including the ice rink reception and parts of the ice rink arena.

Plymouth Pavilions CEO, Sarah Phillips said: “During the global fight against Coronavirus we’ve seen so many people and organisations going above and beyond to do their part wherever possible, we’re so pleased to be in a position where we can now take our turn by offering our unique building out as a vaccination centre. After working closely with the NHS and looking at many different options for our site we have been able to create a strategy with a consortium of GP’s surgeries. Whilst we are so keen to be able to welcome back our wonderful staff and talented skaters to the Ice Rink, utilising these spaces means it will remain closed during the period of time that we are assisting the NHS. We extend our sincere thanks to Plymouth City Council for their support in making this a possibility.”

The Arena is set to welcome visitors too; after working together for several months on a Covid safe return for spectators, the Plymouth Raiders Basketball Team and Plymouth Pavilions, their home of 24 years, are delighted to announce that supporters will be back in the Arena from Friday 8 January.

Things will be a little different for visitors, a reduced arena capacity is in place keeping staff and visitors in the venue safe, this means only Season Ticket holders will be able to attend the games in person with other supporters cheering on the team from home. Raiders have had a spectacular start to their 2020/21 season and fans can keep up to speed with the team’s progress with fixtures broadcast live from the Pavilions on Sky Sports and get the inside scoop with the all new Plymouth Raiders Podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Plymouth Raiders Director, Ross Mackenzie said, “We’re so excited for our fantastic fans to join us after such a long period away. While we’ve been able to get our season underway behind closed doors, we were taken by surprise at the recent Government announcement, which meant we all had to start urgent preparations to make the Raider Dome - as it’s become affectionately known, a safe place to watch live sport. It’s taken a real team effort to bring fans back inside and thanks go to our GM Phil and to Tara, Alisha and to all of the Pavilions Management for their support. Our first game of 2021 on the 8th January against Leicester Riders promises to be a real humdinger, and what a game to have our fans back for!”

 “We are delighted to be able to welcome Plymouth Raiders to the building for Covid Safe games from January 2021,” said Sarah Phillips, Plymouth Pavilions CEO. “Being able to facilitate these games with a small crowd of supporters is a huge step forward in the process of returning to normal. Plymouth Pavilions was designed to be a space enjoyed by the public and we’re so proud of the huge variety of acts we’ve seen in the past and are continuing to book for our future programme. Offering our venue for use by Raiders and the NHS is a great way of breathing life back into the building after such a long period of shut down. However, these non-profit making activities cannot support our business long term and as such we are still hugely thankful for the life-saving grant we received from The Arts Council’s Culture Recovery Fund in October and strive to continue paving the way for our return to normal, sustaining our business and getting back to what we do best!”

It is the Pavilions’ paramount concern that they maintain a safe environment for staff and patrons and have asked that visitors support them by following the new Visitor Charter available to view before attending the venue. You can find this and more information about the Pavilions including exciting new artist announcements and on sales at www.plymouthpavilions.com. Tickets and gift vouchers are available 24/7 from their Box Office provider The Ticket Store at www.theticketstore.co.uk.