Bristol restaurants and pubs close amid rising Covid cases

A Michelin star restaurant in Bristol is among the latest venues to close its doors for the rest of the Christmas period after staff tested positive for Covid.

Wilson's Restaurant in Redland said it has become clear the business would not be able to operate "properly" or "safely" if it stayed open.

Other popular restaurants including The Gallimaufry, Pasta Loco, The Old Duke and Sonny Stores have also closed at what is normally their busiest time of year.

Head chef and co-owner of Wilson's Jan Ostle told ITV News his frustrations lie with the government saying "it's criminal" to confuse the message so much that people have lost confidence to head out.

"We're being expected to take decisions that are above my pay grade and we're having to make these decisions which the government should have made weeks ago."

Wilson's is not the only business in the city suffering the effects of the spread of the Omicron Covid variant.

The Gaulimaufry has also closed, after describing the government's messaging as "confusing and contradictory".

The Gloucester Road pub stopped serving at 6pm on Sunday (19 December) and says it will not reopen until December 29.

The Old Duke pub in Bristol city centre has also shut after seeing a surge in Covid cases.

The popular pub and music venue has shut until December 27 "at the earliest" - usually it's busiest time of the year.

Landlord of the Old Duke, Stewart Seydel, says he has seen four times the number of people he knows being infected with the virus in the last two weeks compared to the whole 21 months of the pandemic so far.

Mr Seydel said: "It was becoming really worrying. Just among the people I know, I've seen more people come down with it in the last week or two than I did for the whole of the rest of the pandemic. I've known five or six people to get it before and I know 20-odd people who have got it recently.

"It just felt like we were putting the staff, and the bands who play here, and the customers more at risk, and there's no good reason for that."

Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire is calling for more support for the sector, with pubs and restaurants seeing a huge rise in cancelled bookings.

She says many of the city's hospitality businesses are "desperate after an almost impossible two years".