Pub Issued Closure Notice For Breaching Covid-19 Restrictions

Owners of the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Great Bowden have ‘whole-heartedly’ apologised after being issued with a closure notice for breaches of Covid-19 restrictions, in relation to a takeaway service.

Leicestershire County Council say how the service was operating constituted ‘a serious and imminent threat to public health’ and acted following consultation with its Director of Public Health, Harborough District Council and the Police.

The concerns related to the number of people gathering in the vicinity of the pub.

Shoulder of Mutton, Great Bowden

Gary Connors, head of regulatory services for Leicestershire County Council, said: “We had a number of concerns about a range of breaches around the government restrictions when it comes to venues which offer a takeaway service.

“In this case, how the takeaway service was operating was enough to constitute a serious and imminent threat to public health.

“We’ve been left with no alternative, but to use our powers to issue a direction which fully closes access to the public.

“We will continue to monitor the situation on a weekly basis. It is important for the local economy that businesses continue to trade, but it’s down to us all to do all we can to control the spread of the virus.”

The order, which came into effect from December 30th, required the pub to fully close to the public.

A spokesperson for the Shoulder of Mutton told Hfm: “As a proud member of our valuable local community, we are saddened to have been seen to have breached Covid rules on this occasion.

“We have invested money making the venue safe and have been praised both by customers and local authorities in terms of our open collaboration and how we have endeavoured to keep our loyal customers safe.

“Unfortunately it seems we did not get it right on this occasion given the forever changing protocol and we whole-heartedly apologise.

“A hard lesson has been learned and we will now work even closer with our local police force and official licensing regulations.

“Under no circumstances did we wish to put any of our customers at risk and will endeavour to further improve and monitor the gathering of people when outside of the public house and the licensed area.”