ST PAUL’S COULD BE FORCED TO CLOSE AMID LACK OF CASH

ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL may have to close its doors after lockdown devastated its finances, it was warned today.

The landmark’s income dropped by 90 per cent last year, with tourists — who provide almost all of it — staying away during the pandemic. The Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Reverend Dr David Ison, said “big decisions” had to be made about its future.

The cathedral received £3.3 million from the Government’s culture recovery fund but has annual running costs of £8 million. He told the BBC: “If we can’t raise the resources to be able to employ the people to look after the building and pay for the heating and lighting, we would have to shut our doors.”

A £15 million plan to replace large sections of the roof has been cancelled as the money was needed to replace lost income.

⬤ One of London’s oldest shops has announced it is closing, blaming rising rents and the pandemic. Arthur Beale, on Shaftesbury Avenue, has been supplying equipment to sailors for 500 years.