Greater Manchester bar shuts after staff members test positive for coronavirus

A Greater Manchester bar has closed its doors temporarily after several members of staff tested positive for coronavirus.

Thom’s Bar & Kitchen, located on Heaton Moor Road, took to social media to reveal that three staff members had the virus.

The wine bar, in Stockport, is now temporarily closed.

According to the bar, one staff member initially tested positive, before two more were also confirmed to have coronavirus.

The bar posted on Facebook: “Just to let everyone know that unfortunately we have now temporarily closed.

“On Sunday we were notified that a member of staff had tested positive for COVID-19 and decided to close our premises.

“As our focus is and always has been on customer and staff welfare, this was the obvious course of action to take.

“We have contacted Public Health England and a consultant will be advising us on any procedures we need to follow and assist us in safely reopening in a timely and safe manner.

“We hope to be able to safely reopen soon and welcome you all back with socially distant open arms.

“Thank you to everyone for your support so far and we can’t wait to see you all again.”

After posting this, the bar released an updated statement saying two more staff members had tested positive, saying that anyone who had visited the venue in the last week might want to ‘air on the side of caution’ and book a test.

The statement said: “Since our first announcement we can now confirm that two more members of our team have tested positive.

“We have contacted PHE and are still waiting to hear back from a representative.

“As this must be a very busy time for PHE, anyone who has visited us in the last week may want to air on the side of caution and book/order a test whilst waiting for PHE to contact them.

“Thank you again for everyone’s support in this time and we will be aiming to update everyone as soon as we have more information available.”

Bosses at the bar told the MEN that they had followed social distancing guidelines, and that they’re ‘currently unsure of how this small localised outbreak has occurred’.