A bar owner had applied for his business to become a religion in a bid to get around the coronavirus restrictions.
James Aspell, who owns 400 Rabbits Tequila and Mexcal Cocktail Bar in Nottingham, has registered to become "The Church of The Four Rabbits".
Places of worship can stay open in all tiers, yet Tier 3 rules state you must not attend with or socialise with anyone outside of your household or support bubble while you are there.
To apply to become a religion you need people signed up to your congregation, reports Nottinghamshire Live.
So James reckons members of the new religion can choose to be "a bunny believer" or "a reverend of the righteous rabbits".
The 34-year-old said: “The intention of this is to be a joke but it comes from a serious place.
“With the new restrictions we’re forced to close and it could be months before we can reopen. We don’t have a food offering so even if we were in Tier 2, we couldn’t open.
“We feel like we’ve been targeted unfairly, to an extent and it seems wrong. Everything from gyms to massage parlours can stay open and even the Christmas markets are happening – that was the point when I thought, this is ridiculous.
“So we have sent in an application to register as a place of worship.”
James, who opened the bar five years ago, said the application has been sent to the registrar general in Nottingham for consideration.
Despite the joke, James is trying to make a point.
He added: “This time of year it’s usually all guns blazing but instead I’m sat at home putting my Christmas decorations up.
“We have no intention of opening unless the application is granted or when restrictions are lifted.
“If we were to open we’d follow government guidelines and I don’t think we’d be selling alcohol. We might be able to adapt in a different way and have some fun with it.
“We’re not doing this to offend anybody or break any rules.”
In a post on Facebook, 400 Rabbits said: "With places of worship allowed to open in all tiers we thought let's start a religion! Can't be that hard can it? 'The Church of the 400 Rabbits' launching as soon as we get the green light!
"Congregation daily til late. Give us this day our daily #mezcal."
James said the response has been “overwhelmingly positive”.
