A Manchester restaurant shut down by the council over Covid safety concerns has been allowed to reopen.
Liverpool Road curry house Akbar's was ordered to close last week after licensing officers found 'unacceptable scenes' of overcrowding, according to the town hall.
The owner of the popular restaurant said the closure was 'heavy-handed' but pledged to replace its first come, first served policy with a new booking system to prevent queues.
The council said the pre-booking only policy was one of a number of strict control measures it had agreed with management before allowing the restaurant to reopen.
Other conditions include restricting the maximum capacity to 130 customers, who must be seated at all times unless in waiting areas, walking to their table or using the toilets.
No more than six diners must be seated at a table, and a minimum distance of 1m must be maintained between each group.
The number of customers in the internal waiting area must also be limited to three groups - with a maximum of six diners in each party.
The closure was ordered on Friday, after a council enforcement team said they witnessed groups of up to 24 people seated at tables that weren't adequately spaced.
Under the latest rules in Greater Manchester, residents are only allowed to dine inside restaurants with members of their immediate household or support bubble.
The council said the premises were 'overcrowded', and there were 'unmanaged' queues of up to an hour and a half to get a seat, 'mingled with no social distancing'.
Akbar's owner Shabir Hussain said he had met with the council over the weekend to resolve the issues.
He told the M.E.N: "We've sat down with the council and we are working with them to keep the crowds under control.
"We are just so glad that the staff are back at work, they have suffered already for such a long time."
He said the restaurant had struggled to cope with demand for the Government's Eat Out to Help Out deal, which offers customers £10 off dine-in meals from Monday to Wednesday.
"When the Government offers privileges like that to the general public, you can't blame them for wanting to take advantage of it," he said.
"Those were the days where the issues were. If somebody wants to wait for an hour or an hour and ahalf for a table, you can't say don't wait.
"Because the restaurant never adopted a booking policy in the beginning it was difficult but now we are encouraging people to book tables.
"It was a difficult situation but we managed to resolve it."
