Sheffield pub BANS under-25’s after it was shut down by police over weekend fight

Samantha Oldfield, who runs The Stag in Woodhouse, announced the decision via the business’ Facebook page yesterday (August 4).

The landlady, 49, who took over the pub on Market Street three weeks before the coronavirus lockdown, said that the move comes after the police asked her to voluntarily close at 6pm on Saturday night and remain shut for the rest of the weekend.

The shutdown came after a fight on the street outside the pub on Friday night and disorder at another premises nearby to The Stag on Saturday.

Mrs Oldfield wrote: “After the weekend, we will only be allowing over-25s in. I will monitor and decide if plastic glasses need to be used after 6pm.

"No children are allowed in the beer garden at anytime. Closing times for Friday and Saturday will be reviewed."

Earlier this month, the day after pubs were allowed to reopen following lockdown, Mrs Oldfield was forced to lock customers inside the pub for their own safety after a mass brawl involving 20 people broke out outside.

The gang, who had not been drinking in the pub, tried to force open the doors, causing damage to locks and bolts and also smashed a window.

At the time, Mrs Oldfield said: “It is the last thing you need on the first day back. It is upsetting after all the hard work that we have put in over the last few weeks that there’s people out there looking to cause problems.”

South Yorkshire Police praised staff at The Stag for helping them deal with incident on Saturday by agreeing to close.

A spokesperson for the force said: “As a precaution, police did ask The Stag Inn to voluntarily close on Saturday evening due to disorder at another premises nearby.

“Staff at the premises were happy to do this and support officers in preventing any potential further disorder in the area.”