THE Railway Tavern pub in Stanford-le-Hope has been forced to close when England are playing football matches in the Euro championships with immediate effect for breaching Covid-19 rules.

A statement from Thurrock Council says the pub in the town centre will be closed on 22 and 29 June during all England Euro 2020 football matches after ignoring COVID-19 safety rules.

Essex Police officers attended the premises during the England game on Friday, 18 June following complaints that rules were not being followed.

Leader of Thurrock Council and Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Cllr Rob Gledhill, said: "We have been left with no option but to close this pub during England's upcoming Euro matches. The landlord has made it clear that he has no intention of following the rules and instead would rather put his customers, staff and the wider community at risk by creating the perfect conditions for coronavirus to spread.

"It is disappointing that we have been forced to take this tough action against a business but we are seeing increases in the rate of infection locally and it is unacceptable for a landlord to behave this way when so many businesses and residents are doing all they can to make sure that we keep the infection rate down, save lives and ensure that the current lockdown can end as soon as possible.

"They have been repeatedly warned yet despite that they have chosen to put personal gain ahead of public safety so we have taken decisive action to halt their selfish and dangerous behaviour."

The pub has been issued with a Direction to Close Order by Thurrock Council's Director of Public Health closing the premises entirely during the next two scheduled England European Championship matches.