A landlord has been given the impossible task of keeping his punters quiet while they watch England’s Euro 2020 games at his pub.
Leon Kelly was warned he would be fined if £1,000 if fans chanted, cheered, or booed as the match was being shown.
The stunned landlord was visited by licensing officers who issued the warning on the grounds that allowing pubgoers to become too vocal during games could increase the risk of passing on Covid-19.
“I just sort of looked at them like ‘What?!’,” Leon told LancsLive.
“How on earth am I supposed to do that? Do I pause when someone’s about to take a shot on goal and warn everyone to keep quiet?”
The landlord, who owns Level One in Darwen, Lancashire, was visited by licensing officers from Blackburn with Darwen Council ahead of last weekend’s match between England and Croatia.
He obtained an 18-month road closure in April to allow him to set up a large marquee at the front of his Darwen bar, which can seat 96 people.
The pub also boasts two big screens so customers can watch the Euro 2020 games while enjoying a beer outside.
But when officers visited, he says they told him he must stop customers from booing, chanting or cheering while watching the football as it could be a Covid risk.
Leon, who is due to open a second venue soon called 303 in the area, admitted to the officers that he would have “no chance” of being able to stop people cheering if England scored.
Gary Johnston, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council’s Service Lead for Environment and Public Protection, said that as the Level One marquee is partially enclosed “singing and shouting” would increase the risk of transmitting c oronavirus.
“Our licensing officers did carry out visits before the game to make sure that venues would be as safe as possible for people watching the football,” he said.
"People were obviously looking forward to watching England play and we wanted to make sure that all bases were covered to help people do this safely.
“This would be less of an issue in the open air but the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant still makes it relevant and as this event was held in a partially enclosed marquee it was important to make sure all regulations were followed.
“We still have a high number of cases in the borough and I am sure that venues want to do everything possible to keep their customers and staff safe.
“We would certainly expect a venue to consider all this as part of its Covid-19 risk assessment, and a clear failure to protect staff and customers could potentially lead to action under Health and Safety legislation.”
