Castle Quarter food hall closed until vaccine centre no longer needed

The food hall on the top floor of the shopping centre, usually home to Burger King and the Chopstix noodle bar, was taken over by the NHS for Covid vaccines in January. The space became the first mass vaccination centre in Norfolk.

The shopping venue is hoping to reopen the Vue cinema and play areas and its non-essential retail units in accordance with the government's easing of Covid restrictions. But it looks unlikely its food hall will be able to reopen until August at the earliest.

Sarah Smith, operations manger at Castle Quarter, said the food hall would not be reopening while the vaccination centre was needed. Currently, the government's programme aims to vaccinate people in the top nine priority groups by April 15 and offer every person aged over 18 vaccination by July 31.

Castle Quarter's foodhall isn't going to reopen until the vaccination centre based there is no longer needed. (Image: Archant)

Ms Smith said: "While we are very much looking forward to a time when people can enjoy everything that Castle Quarter has to offer in terms of shopping, leisure, dining and entertainment, we can confirm that our food court will not reopen whilst the NHS still requires the space for the central Norwich vaccination centre.”

Since it opened, it has been joined by mass vaccination centres elsewhere around the county, in King’s Lynn, Norwich, Attleborough, North Walsham and Lowestoft.

They are operating alongside hubs delivering vaccines in local hospitals and GP surgeries.

The latest figures from NHS England show 419,439 people living in Norfolk and Waveney had received a first dose of the jab by March 7.

There was a decline in roughly 10,000 jabs administered week-on-week at that point, but the Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group, which is behind the roll-out, said the drop was down to a shortage in supply, which is expected to have been addressed - and increased - this week.