Cocktail Bar Fined For Breaching COVID Rules

A local business has been fined £1,000 for breaching COVID legislation.

Lang’s cocktail bar, on St Michael’s Road, was fined £1,000 by Swale Borough Council last month (on Tuesday 25th May) after failing to adhere to the legislation.

During step two of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown from 12th April to 17th May, hospitality venues could serve customers outside. To qualify as outdoors, outside areas had to be less than 50 per cent enclosed.

Following up on a complaint, the council found that Lang’s outside area was too enclosed to qualify as a usable outside space.

Cllr Angela Harrison, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at the council told SFM News: “Our COVID Compliance Officer visited Lang’s cocktail bar in Sittingbourne following a complaint about their outside area. We discussed possible options with the business owners that could make their outside area covid compliant. However, these changes were not made, and the business continued to operate illegally. As a result, they were fined £1,000 for non-compliance with COVID regulations".

Cllr Harrison went on to add: "Since the introduction of step one of the roadmap on 29th March, we’ve followed up on 23 complaints, and spoken to 58 businesses who contacted us for advice. Our covid marshals also carried out more than 50 business checks every week during May. The majority of businesses are following government guidelines and are covid compliant. However, we will fine those that deliberately ignore the need to operate a safe environment for customers and staff.”

If you find out about compliance for businesses and venues you can visit the government’s business support page for more information: www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.