A pub has had its licence suspended after continual breaches of Covid-19 rules - with police even finding punters hiding upstairs.
The Angel Inn in Burnley, Lancashire, has been ordered to close after police were called on several occasions after allowing people to flout restrictions, reports Lancashire Live.
On one occasion officers heard loud music playing and saw people drinking at the bar, before the customers then attempted to unsuccessfully flee out the back door.
However, the licence holder Jackie Davies claimed that staff have tried their best, but argued that the pub "is not in the best of areas with difficult people".
Lancashire Constabulary requested that Burnley Council suspend the pub's licence due to the continued breaches.
The application, submitted by PC Michael Jones of Lancashire Constabulary, said that the force has received "numerous complaints" alleging that the pub was not abiding by coronavirus restrictions.
It said: "Since the introduction of restrictions in March 2020 the premises has had the highest number of reported incidents in the BB11 postcode area."
Police also claim that "poor practices" have been observed on several occasions including "CCTV not working, poor track and trace recording- including offensive jokey names, loud music, and singing and poor social distancing".
Documents also show that on August 6, 2020, a "community protection warning" was given in relation to "the failure to take reasonable steps to keep workers (and volunteers), customers, and visitors safe during the Covid-19 pandemic" with regards to social distancing.
On September 22, 2020, another community protection warning was given for failing to comply with government social distancing guidelines, despite being warned that it was having a "detrimental effect on the quality of life of others in the locality".
In the pub's defence licence holder Jackie Davies said she had made several attempts to contact the council licensing department to get advice on how to stay safe during the pandemic.
In an email submitted to the licensing department in the pub's defence, she wrote: "In response to your email and in my defence the incident on the 11 Nov I was in Tenerife with my husband and grandson who resides with us full time.
"We left whom we thought was trustworthy and a loyal member of staff that has been here for 5 years looking after our premises.
"We had to cut our holiday short when I received a call to say what had happened.
Jackie went on to add the couple had tried "to keep our business and our home this is our life" before addressing the call outs of which she added that some were "malicious".
She added that problems with the pub's CCTV were down to police "regularly" using it to review accidents on the roundabout outside and not "leaving it as it should be".
The council decided to suspend The Angel Inn's licence in advance of a full hearing that will be held on December 4.
