Spark:York has temporarily closed down.
The innovative business and community box park on Piccadilly has responded to the government’s new coronavirus measures by shutting its doors to the public.
Its bosses say they are working with tenants, and they hope to resume normal business activities as soon as possible.
In a statement they said:
Based on the announcement from Government in the last few minutes, that has been clear in that ‘everyone should avoid social contact and non-essential travel’, it would seem careless at best for us to continue to encourage the community to use our public venue for socialising and gathering…
We are therefore announcing the closure of SPARK* as a public venue with immediate effect. until further notice.
Turning to take-aways
The directors said they were putting the “health and wellbeing of our community first”.
“We are however in the emergency planning stages with the businesses that call Spark their home to understand what is the safest and most efficient way of pivoting their business models to offer a further onus on takeaway and delivery services with hope of continuing trade in that capacity,” they said.
“We hope to update on this matter after a planned meeting with our businesses on Tuesday morning once a collective opinion is realised.”
They added:
We will be seeking how best to support the community while the venue is closed to the public.
We are so sad to have to make this call. but we must put public health first.
Take care of each other and see you soon.