AS York Theatre Royal prepares to reopen from lockdown this evening, its rival venue - the Grand Opera House - is set to remain closed until late next month.

The theatre in Cumberland Street remains in darkness today and its owners ATG have this afternoon published a statement saying it has suspended performances at its UK venues until Saturday June 26 as it continues to plan for shows to return.

"We apologise for the inconvenience caused but hope you will understand given the exceptional circumstances," it said.

"If you have made a booking that is affected by this suspension, you do not need to do anything. We are currently contacting customers booked for performances up to 26 June 2021.

"Bookings for performances with confirmed rescheduled dates will be automatically moved to the new dates and customers will be informed accordingly. We are working with Producers to reschedule as many postponed shows as possible and thank you in advance for your patience. Full credit vouchers which include all fees, or refunds, are available for all cancelled shows."

It said people could book shows with complete confidence, knowing that if there were any further suspensions, their new tickets would remain fully valid for further exchanges or refunds.

"On behalf of all our staff, backstage crews, front of house teams, actors, dancers, musicians and the entire industry we thank you for your support as we work together to ensure the future success of British Theatre," it said. "With your ongoing support, we believe we can come back faster and stronger than ever before.

"As you can imagine, we have a large number of customers to assist, so we ask that you please bear with us - your patience and understanding are very much appreciated at this time."

York Theatre Royal is sold-out as it reopens its doors this evening for Love Bites,a show of 22 specially commissioned short pieces by York artists which is intended as a 'love letter to live performance.'

The theatre's capacity has been reduced from 750 to 340 to ensure people in the audience are kept a metre away from other theatre-goers.

Theatre CEO Tom Bird said tickets for other shows in the new Love Season were also selling well, with a clear pent-up demand from all ages for live theatre.