Landlady explains why she shut pub early on ‘Super Saturday’ – and warns it could happen again

The Red Lion, on Brook Hill, in Thorpe Hesley, Rotherham, told how it dialled 999 and closed with ‘immediate effect’ after its beer garden was ‘inundated’ with strangers on Saturday, July 4.

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It warned that it would do ‘exactly the same again’ if such scenes are repeated, adding that ‘there are a few names that won’t be welcome in future’.

But landlady Sharon Hincks said she was confident what happened that evening was a ‘one-off’ and that with most other pubs in the area opening this week there would be no shortage of places to visit in future.

She also insisted there was ‘never any lack of control’ and police were only called because officers had requested they do so.

“We just decided it was safer to close rather than have to deal with possible overcrowding moving indoors,” she said.

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“We’ve made a few changes and tweats to operational procedure and risk assessment but I’m confident this was a one-off.”

The pub described on Facebook how its garden had been busy with locals but ‘manageable’ on Saturday before dozens of strangers showed up looking for somewhere to drink with so many other nearby venues being closed.

“Once we realised what was happening and that the situation was getting downright dangerous we reacted immediately but unfortunately this caused a huge crowd of people with nowhere to go outside,” it said.

“We apologise for this commotion and I’d just like to say that we and our staff have worked bl**** hard today to make sure the pub was safe and social distancing was being being adhered to.

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“We will do exactly the same again if we have another dangerous situation arising as our staff and customers have a right to be safe in their village pubs. Needless to say there are a few names that won’t be welcome in future.”