Numerous pubs forced to close on New Year's Eve as Covid causes mass staff shortages

But according to some pub landlords, the number of premises unable to open for celebrations this evening due to staff shortages as a result of positive Covid tests, is realistically a lot more.

The Stanhill Pub and Kitchen in Oswaldtwistle, which was forced to close in September because of staff shortages, will not be opening at all today and have apologised to all their customers.

Posting on their social media pages on Thursday, a spokesperson for the pub said: "Closed December 31 to January 13.

"It is with regret that I have to inform you that The Stanhill must close from December 31 for a short period as some key members of our team have tested positive for Covid, others who have been in contact with those who are positive have been asked to isolate and get tested.

"As a result, all New Year celebrations are cancelled.

"We shall reopen after our traditional New Year break on Thursday January 13.

"We sincerely apologise for the disappointment this will cause, we are disappointed too but this is the right thing to do.

"We shall attempt to contact all bookings and ticket holders, but if we are unable to contact you we apologise.

"All ticket holders can receive a full refund by returning tickets after January 13.

"Any non-refunded tickets shall be donated to our nominated charity Movember.

"Please enjoy your New Year, stay safe and stay well.

"Brian and Team Stanhill."

Another venue forced to cancel New Year celebrations is the Intack Inn in Blackburn.

A spokesperson for the venue said on Wednesday: "Terrible time for it to hit, but Covid has finally struck.

"Leanne and I are both in isolation pending results of our PCR tests.

"Two other staff have also tested positive, so are also in isolation.

"We are trying our best to keep the pub open for as long as possible, but we ask that you please be patient with us and understand that occasionally we may not be able to be open and customer safety obviously has to be our priority.

"We think this is a better alternative to closing completely, especially at a time when people are getting together and enjoying the holidays.

"We'll keep you posted on here with any updates and we hope to see you all early in the New Year.

"Please keep safe everybody and we hope you have a great end to the year."

On Thursday a further update was made, with the spokesperson stating: "Hi guys, we will be open at 12pm tomorrow and last orders will be called at 4:45pm closing at 6pm.

"Unfortunately we just don’t have the staff to be able to work the night shifts and bring the new year in.

"We hope you all have a brilliant night and we will see you once our isolation is over. Happy New Year from us all."

Meanwhile, the Firepit in Blackburn have also had to close, with venue bosses announcing the restaurant would be closed today and New Year's Day.

A statement from managers read: "Unfortunately due to staff shortages our restaurant will be closed tomorrow and New Year's Day, we will reopen on Sunday January 2.

"So we’d like to take this opportunity to say a MASSIVE thank you to our supportive loyal customers, we couldn’t have done it without you.

"We wish you all a very happy New Year…we’ll see you in 2022.

"Love the Firepit Blackburn Team."

The Willows in Blackburn is another Covid casualty as they have had to cancel their New Year's Eve party.

A statement on their Facebook page said they were reducing their service times and have cancelled their Australian themed New Year’s Eve party.

It went on: "Unfortunately we have had team members testing positive with Covid 19.

"Due to this we are currently experiencing some team shortages but hope to be back to full service levels by January 2.

"As a precautionary measure all our team are testing daily and the pub is undergoing deep cleaning both front and back of house.

"We will continue to work in line with government guidelines and hope you, our customers will help us in working with these measures.

"We are gutted to not run our event and hope to do something similar in the near future. Thank you all for your understanding."

Carole Davies, who runs the Clifton Arms in Blackburn said the situation was awful, and believes a lot more venues have had to close their doors too.

She said: "It's terrible, I've been told there are many others not opening due to staff levels with Covid."