New regulations have been introduced along London Road to tackle long queues building outside restaurants.
Leicester City Council is introducing the emergency measures to disperse large crowds of people ignoring social distancing rules while queuing outside a number of restaurants.
The Outdoor Public Place Direction will take effect from Monday 17 August. This prohibits queueing, gathering or congregating outside food businesses along a section of London Road.
These measures have been put in place for customers who haven’t pre booked at restaurants between the railway station up to Victoria Park.
For customers who have made a prior booking, they are asked to arrive no more than 10 minutes beforehand.
Over the past few weeks, London Road has seen a high surge in people gathering and queuing outside restaurants, taking advantage of the Government’s ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme.
The scheme is a way of encouraging people to eat out at participating restaurants at discounted prices. The offer is run on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until the end of August.
Staff from security firm Showsec will be in place on London Road to provide support in engaging, explaining and encouraging people to socially distance. They will be joined by local police who will help with messaging and who, if required, will have the powers to enforce the new measures.
In addition, Individual Public Health Premises Directions are also being issued to six busy food outlets on London Road.
The six businesses must now ensure they put in place strict systems to manage queues safely and only admit customers who have booked in advance.
Those issued with Public Health Premises Directions include Jimmy’s Killer Prawns, An Najeeb, Kobe Sizzlers, Konak, Boo Burger and Toros Steakhouse.
Businesses which fail to follow the new legislation will face fines ranging from £100 to £3,200 for repeat offences, and as a last resort could also be issued with a prohibition notice, effectively closing them down.
The new emergency powers will be in force until the end of August.