A popular cocktail bar has announced it could stop opening on Fridays because of 'aggressive and abusive' customers refusing to follow coronavirus rules.
Bosses at the Northern Crafthouse, on Bury New Road, Whitefield, said the venue will be shut this Friday (September 4) - and could be closed every Friday if the problems continue.
In a statement released on the venue's Facebook page, a spokesman said an incident last week forced the bar to close early.
According to the post, Fridays are the most difficult days for staff.
"To the majority of our customers - we thank you for following the rules we need in place to remain open," the statement read.
"However, there is a minority that simply refuse to comply and become abusive and aggressive when asked to do so.
"These people seemingly do not understand or care that we are currently in the middle of a local lockdown and worldwide pandemic. Their actions compromise our staff and customers safety in the process. An incident on Friday left us with no other choice than to close early.
"After assessing the last few weeks we quickly realised that Fridays have been the worst days for us to manage. It’s the day we are verbally abused the most. The day the biggest groups of people want to come in. The day more people simply refuse to sit at their own tables.
"Therefore we have made the decision to close this Friday, and will assess subsequent Fridays on a weekly basis. Once again we thank the majority, we will do everything we can for your safety and currently this means closing on Friday."
While residents in Wigan have been released from the Greater Manchester lockdown - with Bolton, Stockport and Trafford following on Wednesday - people in Bury still have to adhere to restrictions.
People from separate households are not allowed to meet indoors - either at a home or at a business - unless they are in an established support bubble.
As of this weekend, the borough had the fourth lowest coronavirus infection rate of Greater Manchester's ten boroughs, with 28.3 new cases per 10,000 people.
But this remains significantly higher than the numbers in Wigan, where just 10 in 10,000 new infections were registered.
