A NEWPORT bar has had its licence suspended for two weeks over breaching coronavirus rules.

A council report says it was “clearly evident” from CCTV footage that the upstairs VIP area of Breeze, in Cambrian Road, was not following Covid-19 regulations on September 4 and September 5.

“It was patently obvious that people in the VIP area, including staff, were not socially distancing in accordance with the regulations,” the report says.

At a meeting this week, the council’s licensing sub-committee noted that the bar had put in practices to ensure compliance with Covid-19 rules.

But on the nights in questions, the bar had “utterly failed” to comply with the rules in the upstairs area, it found.

A council report says the owner of the bar was present on September 4, but he “simply ignored” what was happening from where he was seated.

“Although the owner purported that he was a customer that evening, the committee took the view that any responsible owner would have spoken to the management team or door staff to ensure compliance,” the report says.

“The owner however failed to do this, and indeed breached the regulations by failing to correctly keep a social distance from other customers and staff.”

The committee understood the bar had found coronavirus “extremely challenging”, but it concluded the actions on the nights in question “placed the local community at further risk of the spread of Covid-19”.

A suspension of one month was considered proportionate due to “the extremely serious nature” of the breaches.

But this was reduced to two weeks due to the historic good conduct of the premises and the actions it took after a customer reported they had Covid-19 and had been in the VIP area.

The committee also considered the premises had been closed due to Covid restrictions during the ‘firebreak’ lockdown and that the suspension would occur at the start of the Christmas period.

Breeze has been contacted for comment.