Five pubs are now shut in a UK town where 10 punters tested positive for coronavirus.
Health chiefs asked people who had been working or drinking at the Crown & Anchor in Stone, North Staffordshire, on July 16, 17, and 18 to get tested, after 10 positive cases were linked to the premises.
The Crown and Anchor was closed last weekend to allow a risk assessment to be reviewed after an “overwhelming” number of visitors on Saturday, July 18.
Now four more venues in the town have announced they will be closed for the next few days to keep customers and staff safe, Stoke on Trent Live reports.
The pubs made informed punters on social media and said they would be closed despite not having coronavirus cases linked to their premises.
Around 500 people attended a mobile testing unit set up in the council-run Crown Street car park yesterday to get checked – and an appointment-only service is running at the site from today until Sunday.
A Facebook post by The Swan in Stafford Street on Wednesday said “management and staff have taken the pragmatic decision not to open the pub this week” – despite there being no confirmed Covid-19 cases linked to the pub.
The closure has been followed by announcements from The Red Lion and The Lounge, both in Stone High Street and The Talbot Inn on Station Road.
A post on The Red Lion’s Facebook page said: “We’ve taken the tough decision to temporarily close our pub, this is a voluntary decision and we have no reported Covid cases at the pub.
“We are in dialogue with local health authorities and we want to do our part in keeping the local community safe, we look forward to welcoming customers back once it is safe to do so and will be in touch with more news soon.”
The Talbot Inn’s post said: “In light of the current Covid-19 outbreak in Stone we at the Talbot have taken the decision to close the pub for the next few days to ensure the health and safety of our staff and customers.
“We will be keeping abreast of the current situation with test results and positive cases. We will be reviewing the closure again on Friday for the weekend.
“Thanks all and stay safe.”
The Lounge had been due to re-open on Saturday, but this has now been pushed back.
A post on The Lounge’s Facebook page said: “After being closed for an extra four weeks we took the hard decision not to open this weekend due to all that’s been happening in our lovely town. The safety of our customers and staff is more important.
“We will only open Monday 3rd of August depending on the numbers that are given to us over the weekend.
"If it is safe for us to do so, we will be opening 10-4 Monday to Thursday and 10-6 Friday and Saturday.
“Will not be opening night time for the next two weeks and on 17th of August we will reassess the opening times.
"I’m really sorry for disappointing all the customers that already booked, but your safety is what we want.”
