Slough restaurant fined for Covid breach

The Grill Garden in Slough has been fined £1000 after being found by local council officers to be open during lockdown. 

According to council reports, officers from the licensing team and Thames Valley Police visited Grill Garden on 13 November 2020 and found the “business open as a restaurant” with eight customers eating food together in the basement lounge area of the premises. 

Slough is currently under Tier three restrictions meaning that food businesses in the area should only be open for collection and takeaway.

Local government said that if the business continues to operate outside the regulations  “further penalty notices can be served” with the financial level rising for each occasion to upwards of £10,000. 

Councillor Pavitar K Mann, lead member for planning and regulation, said: “With covid rates so high, everyone in Slough needs to be acting responsibly and within the regulations, not just for themselves but for their families and communities. 

“To have business owners or managers acting in a cavalier manner, breaching the regulations with no reasonable excuse is not only offensive but dangerous.”

She added:“This may be the first such notice we have served in Slough but it should serve as a warning to any business who is putting their own interests above those of our residents; we can and will take action and will not hesitate to do so.”