Sheffield Council deletes ‘scaremongering’ tweet about pubs reopening following backlash

On Thursday evening Sheffield City Council, which has 106,000 Twitter followers, posted: “Great news that the pubs are reopening this weekend, right? Do you know who is happiest? #Coronavirus.

“The virus loves crowded places and thrives on close contact. It won’t be queuing to get inside the pub – it will already be there waiting for you. #DontBeaContact #StaySafeSheff.”

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Amy Harper described the tweet as ‘woeful’ and said it was ‘very damaging for the economy’, while another user labelled it ‘totally irresponsible, scaremongering and disrespectful’.

Victoria McDonald wrote: “Goodness @SheffCouncil who on earth in your PR department allowed this to be posted? Pubs are highly regulated mostly by YOUR OWN officers including Licensing and EHOs [environmental health officers]. Pubs are allowed to be open and have guidelines. This is a shocking kick in the teeth to hard-working landlords.”

Another person said the post “pretty much said 'Don’t go - the virus is waiting for you!' Did they do that for schools? Bloody disgraceful for the pub owners who pay them rent and tax.”

Kim Greaves wrote: “The government deems it safe for pubs to reopen with safety measures. Why try and scare people into staying away? Lockdown has been really hard on some people and messages like this don’t help. Let pubs regulate like supermarkets have been trusted to do throughout and shops are now doing.”

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The post was later deleted and replaced with another tweet which read: “Well done to all the Sheffield businesses who are re-opening this weekend. We are ALL excited to see you. It is still important to stay safe and practice social distancing and good hygiene. Stay safe, Sheffield.”

Commenting under the new post, Corinne Cook said she ‘feared the harm has already been done to the local hospitality trade’. Others welcomed the new ‘positive’ message.

On Friday the Council tweeted: “We're sorry about yesterday's tweet, our message did not reflect our intentions. We want to protect people in Sheffield and support businesses to thrive again.

“Sheffield pubs - we are proud of your hard work to reopen safely and wish you a successful reopening weekend.”