Edinburgh bar closes after customer tests positive for virus

An Edinburgh bar has temporarily closed after a customer tested positive for Covid-19.

The owners of Victoria Bar, in Leith, told customers that it would be temporarily closed while awaiting further guidance from the Government.

The customer, a regular at the bar, informed the owners that they had tested positive following a recent holiday in Malta.

Edinburgh bar group Boda Bars, which owns and operates seven bars in the city, said Victoria Bar will be closed until August 21 and all staff that were on duty when the customer visited will self-quarantine for the next 14 days.

The customer visited the bar between 4.45pm and 6pm on Friday and did not visit any other establishments in the Leith area that evening.

Boda Bars co-owner Anna Lagervist Christopherson said: We are grateful to our customer for informing us of his positive test result as soon as he received it and we immediately took the decision to close Victoria's in order to protect the welfare of our customers and employees.

It is believed that he may have been infected during a recent holiday in Malta and only visited Victoria's for a soft drink on Friday afternoon, before experiencing symptoms over the weekend.

We wish him well during his recovery and want to ensure our customers and employees that thorough cleaning and sanitation measures have been taken.

We are now liaising with the NHS Test and Protect team for further guidance.''