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STAVANGER

Top Gear Stavanger show to go ahead

Sacked Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson and his former co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond are to bring their live show to Stavanger’s Sørmarka Arena after all, BBC Worldwide revealed on Tuesday.

Top Gear Stavanger show to go ahead
Jeremy Clarkson (right) with The Stig (central) and co-presenters in a rehearsal for a Top Gear Live event in Oslo in 2011. Photo: Morten Holm / Scanpix
The four shows, retitled Clarkson, Hammond and May Live, will take place on June 20th and June 21st.  
 
“We’re really happy to have them confirmed here, it’s fantastic,” Christian Topstad, commercial head at Folkehallene, which manages the Arena, told The Local. “This might be the last time these three guys are doing anything together, so its an opportunity to se something which is already moving on, so I think it will be a sell out.” 
 
A spokesman for BBC Worldwide broke the news on Tuesday afternoon to Transmission, Top Gear’s official fan blog. 
 
“So as not to disappoint the thousands of people around the world who have already purchased tickets, BBC Worldwide has agreed with our joint venture partner Brand Events that the remainder of the tour can continue,” the spokesman said.  “These events will not, however, feature any BBC Top Gear branding or content. We believe this is a sensible approach in the circumstances.”
 
The live events will not be able to use clips from Top Gear shows or feature The Stig, the anonymous racing driver who is one of the show’s most popular figures. 
 
Jeremy Clarkson, who had turned Top Gear into one of the BBC’s most popular and profitable programmes, was sacked last week for punching producer Oisin Tymon after an argument over his failure to arrange a hot meal at the end of a shoot.  
 
Top Gear Live is promoted Sub Zero, a 50/50 joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Brand Events. 
 
“This is a great solution for the fans,” a spokesman for Brand Events, told the Transmission blog. “We’d like to thank our ticket-holders for their continued patience. The fans are the most important people to Jeremy, Richard and James, so we’re delighted to be able to say, ‘We’re still coming’…”
 

STAVANGER

Norway Burger King ordered to close for breaking corona rules

A branch of Burger King in Norway was ordered to close on Saturday night after inspectors judged it was allowing customers to rub up too closely together.

Norway Burger King ordered to close for breaking corona rules
The branch of Burger King in Stavanger's main square. Photo: Google Maps
The restaurant in Stavanger, the capital of the country's oil industry, was visited by inspectors from the city government late on Saturday night, and judged not to be meeting infection control requirements.  
 
“The restaurant was closed because they did not comply with the guidelines for distance between the customers,” Øyvind Berekvam, a spokesperson for the municipality, told Norway's state broadcaster NRK
 
Norway requires all bars and restaurants to ensure that customers and personnel can maintain a distance between one another of at least one metre. 
 
Heidi Moss, the marketing manager for King Food, which has run Burger King's Norway franchise sine 1988, said that the chain was looking at how to make sure there could be no infringements at its other 109 restaurants in the country. 
 
“We are of course taking the event in Stavanger very seriously,” she told NRK. “We want to avoid similar situations and are right now looking at measures that can be implemented.”
 
She said she was considering where possible putting place a one-way system in restaurants with separate entrances and exits, and also perhaps hiring security guards. 
 
 
The closure marked the first time a bar or restaurant has been shut down for non-compliance in Stavanger since the coronavirus pandemic began in March. 
 
Runar Johannessen, the head of infection control in Stavanger, said he believed that all nightspots should employ security guards to make sure customers follow distancing requirements. 
 
“It is a challenge to adhere to the guidelines when there is as little contagion as there is now, but with no idea how this develops,” he said. 
 
For example, it may be to return to stay open day and night, guard when there are many guests waiting and differentiated entrance and exit so that there is a one-way walk through the restaurant, according to the marketing manager.
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