One of Scotland's most popular music venues could struggle to put on full events until 2021 if social distancing measures remain in place.
The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, which has the capacity for 13,000 fans, is currently being used as a storage facility for the NHS Louisa Jordan amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
It was named the second busiest concert venue in the world in 2019 - but now bosses are warning it may not be back to its full strength for another year.
Chief executive of the Scottish Event Campus Peter Duthie told the Edinburgh Evening News: “Mass gatherings are not permitted at the moment, but even when they are, if social distancing is still in place it will be very difficult for any event to operate at all.
“It’s very difficult to see how we can put on a full-event event at the Hydro before the middle through to the end of next year.
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"If everything goes our way it may be possible to do things earlier but in terms of events looking like they did before it’s difficult at the moment to see anything happening before then."
He also warned that anything which would require people to get together to 'create an atmosphere' would be a huge challenge.
He added: "We’d never say never. We’re going through a process of looking at what social distancing means for capacity and viability and working with promoters to try to find a way through it.
"We’re looking at what mitigation measures could be put in place to ‘de-risk’ the staging of events.
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“We’re trying to persuade the government to allow us to do some test events as part of the journey back to normality to show what can be done. The industry is highly-professional world-class, which is why we need to protect it.
“But when you put all the different factors together, such as the extra costs and reduced revenues, it all becomes very challenging financially.”
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