Police praise Sheffield pubs and punters for socially distancing on Super Saturday

There was an increased police presence in Sheffield city centre ahead of pubs, bars and restaurants reopening their doors last weekend for the first since in three months.

While some pubs chose not to reopen at the earliest opportunity on Saturday July 4, officers say the premises that did ‘remained fairly quiet’.

South Yorkshire Police received almost 4,000 999 and 101 calls over the weekend – which has been duped as Super Saturday – which was slightly less than across the same period last week.

Local district officers were supported by specialist resources, the force’s mounted unit and volunteer special constables who were stationed in towns and city centres across the region last weekend.

Superintendent Paul McCurry, who oversaw the weekend’s operation said: “Going in to this weekend, we weren’t fully sure what to expect.

“I was really pleased to see the overwhelming majority of people behave responsibly, observe social distancing and comply with the measures that individual bars and restaurants had put in place.

“On the whole, venues were extremely well prepared to welcome the public back, and it was great to see places starting to trade again.

“There were some isolated incidents of drunk and disorderly behaviour and units were deployed to some incidents of fighting on Saturday night, but there was very little need for my officers to take action.”

South Yorkshire Police have said they will keep up patrols and ‘maintain a dedicated policing operation’ over the next few weeks as more establishments begin to reopen from lockdown.

Superintendent McCurry added: “This weekend was a significant milestone in the easing of lockdown restrictions and the return to normality, but Covid-19 has by no means gone away.

“As more venues reopen, and more people get the confidence to go out, please follow the guidelines put in place; they are there to protect you and those around you.

“You can expect to see a much higher police presence over the next few weekends, but we are there to support you.

“Please continue to behave responsibly, look after yourselves and look after each other.”

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