A PUB has been forced to close its doors after a member of staff tested positive for Covid-19.

The Station in Goldstone Villas, Hove is the latest pub owned by Greene King that has been forced to close due to coronavirus.

In a statement, the brewery chain said: “Unfortunately, we have received a positive case of Covid-19 within our team, and as a result other members of the team have been asked to self-isolate.

“This has meant that we currently do not have sufficient team available to run the pub to its usual high standards.

“People’s safety is our priority and therefore as a responsible business we have no option but to close the pub until people are able to return to work.

“We hope to reopen the pub on 9th August, but we will keep our locals and our team updated.”

In July, Greene King had to close 33 its pubs due to staff self-isolating.

Thousands of people in Brighton and Hove were contacted by the NHS Covid-19 app and told to isolate in the last week.

More than 600,000 people in England and Wales were sent self-isolation alerts in the week between 8 and 15 July.

And about one in five hospitality workers are thought to be isolating.

Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of Greene King, said he believes current self-isolation rules need reformed after he was forced to shut some pubs or reduce opening hours.

Mr Mackenzie told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is a problem and I think it could get worse. It is disruptive to the business.

“We had to close, in the last seven days, 33 pubs due to lack of staff because of self-isolation.

“Across the industry we think it is about one in five of our team members who have been affected by this and therefore it is causing a real issue for us setting up business on a daily basis – we’re having to have shortened hours in some circumstances.”

Mr Mackenzie, whose group runs 2,500 pubs, hotels and restaurants across the UK, called on the Government to expand its test and release scheme to allow staff who test negative for coronavirus to return to work after being “pinged”.

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