Harborough district pub now fully shut to the public for breaching tough Covid-19 rules over its popular takeaway service

A Harborough district pub has been fully shut to the public by the county council for breaching tough Covid-19 rules over its popular takeaway service.

The Shoulder of Mutton on The Green in Great Bowden has been issued with a closure notice for breaching coronavirus restrictions.

The pub has now “wholeheartedly apologised” after it was deemed to be posing a “serious and imminent threat to public health”.

The county council has taken the drastic action after close consultation with its Director of Public Health Mike Sandys, Harborough District Council and the police.

The authority launched an investigation and has now acted amid serious concerns over the number of people gathering near the pub.

Gary Connors, head of regulatory services for Leicestershire County Council, said: “We had a number of concerns about a range of breaches around the Government restrictions when it comes to venues which offer a takeaway service.

“In this case, how the takeaway service was operating was enough to constitute a serious and imminent threat to public health.

“We’ve been left with no alternative but to use our powers to issue a direction which fully closes access to the public.”

He added: “We will continue to monitor the situation on a weekly basis.

“It is important for the local economy that businesses continue to trade.

“But it’s down to us all to do all we can to control the spread of the virus.”

The order, which came into effect from last Wednesday (December 30), forced management at the inn to close to the public immediately.

A Shoulder of Mutton spokeswoman said: “As a proud member of our valuable local community, we are saddened to have been seen to have breached Covid rules on this occasion.

“We have invested money making the venue safe and have been praised both by customers and local authorities in terms of our open collaboration and how we have endeavoured to keep our loyal customers safe.

“Unfortunately, it seems we did not get it right on this occasion given the forever-changing protocol and we whole-heartedly apologise.”

She added: “A hard lesson has been learned and we will now work even closer with our local police force and official licensing regulations.

“Under no circumstances did we wish to put any of our customers at risk.

“We will endeavour to further improve and monitor the gathering of people when outside of the public house and the licensed area.”