11 Northumberland licensed premises hit with fines or closures over covid breaches, meeting reveals

The vast majority of Northumberland’s pubs and bars have stuck to the rules during the pandemic, but there have been a handful hit by closures and fines.
Bosses say the vast majority of premises have stuck to the rules, but others have faced action for blatant breaches.Bosses say the vast majority of premises have stuck to the rules, but others have faced action for blatant breaches.
Bosses say the vast majority of premises have stuck to the rules, but others have faced action for blatant breaches.

There has been a range of changing rules and regulations, with differences across the country due to the tier system, but essentially, alcohol sales on the premises was only allowed in Northumberland between July 4 and September 18, 2020.

Darin Wilson, Northumberland County Council’s business compliance and public safety unit manager, said: “They have suffered more than anyone else probably, which is reflected in licence fees coming into the council, which are down by three-quarters.”

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Speaking at the Thursday, February 11, meeting of the authority’s licensing committee, he added: “I have to stress that compliance across the board in Northumberland has been really, really high and businesses should be thanked and applauded for that.”

However, five direction notices had to be issued to pubs in the south-east of the county.

“We closed down five premises last year for a period of time and unfortunately, because of the way Covid has gone, they haven’t been able to open again, which is disappointing for them,” Mr Wilson said.

In addition, six fixed penalty notices of £1,000 were issued to pubs in response to issues such as serving at the bar, no QR card on display and no collection of people’s information when they are in the premises.

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These 11 breaches are in the context of the council currently having 933 premises licensed for the sale of alcohol on the premises, 500 Covid-19 complaints being received, and the fact that there have been around 64 sets of regulations or updates since the coronavirus crisis began.

Nonetheless, head of public protection Phil Soderquest assured the committee that the closures and fines were only to protect public health and not to bring in income, and in cases which were not ‘grey areas’, but ‘blatant’. He noted that none of the sanctions has been appealed by the industry.

Addressing other issues, the report to councillors added: ‘One area of concern, which has led to some issues within Northumberland, but of greater impact in places such as Newcastle, is the take-away sale of alcohol, which has resulted in larger gatherings and low-level antisocial behaviour.

‘A further area, and one we have not previously dealt with in Northumberland, but highlighted by those authorities that were previously in tier two, is the application and enforcement of the regulation which restricts the sale and consumption of alcohol as part of a ‘table meal’.’

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