Licensing hearing delayed for Stone pub linked with 22 Covid-19 cases

Stafford Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee at their meeting on Monday was due to consider whether action should be taken after 22 cases of Covid-19 were linked to the Crown and Anchor, in Station Road, Stone.

Stone Town Council has called for the pub’s licence to be reviewed because of public safety concerns during a weekend in July, when video footage was posted on social media showing people packed into the beer garden.

See the video here:

Hundreds of people were later tested for Covid-19 in Stone – and several other town pubs temporarily closed their doors as a safety precaution in the days after the situation came to light.

A licensing hearing was scheduled for Monday afternoon – but just minutes into the virtual session the panel was told that a 100-page document put forward on behalf of premises licence holder Teresa Pinto had not been submitted to the council until late afternoon on Friday.

Now the hearing has been adjourned until Tuesday, December 15, to allow panel members, Stone Town Council and other parties to view the document ahead of the proceedings.

Committee chairwoman Councillor Ann Edgeller said: “I’m sorry about this. It’s one of those things where we feel we have to give it due consideration and where we don’t have documents in front of us that we need to.”

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The Crown and Anchor was closed for almost a month for a deep clean and risk assessment review following the weekend of July 16 to 18.

Concerns were later raised at a Stone Town Council meeting that there had been a ‘clear breach of guidance which had unacceptably put lives at risk’.

Several people voiced their anger at what had happened at the pub on social media.

But others have supported the Crown and Anchor and written letters to Stafford Borough Council ahead of the hearing.