Hayling Island wine bar owner hits back after opening doors for charity beer giveaway

On Friday afternoon police received ‘a large number’ of reports that a gathering was taking place at Ralph's Wine Bar in Elm Grove, Hayling Island.

According to Hayling Island police, they attended the area and advised staff, before the venue was closed.

Bar owner Martin West says the bar was indeed open – as beer was given away in exchange for a donation to charity workers helping vulnerable residents in the area.

He said: ‘We had decided to give away beer at the bar yesterday for a small donation for Hayling Helpers.

‘This event was advertised on Facebook and our website, the local police were aware of this and had no issues.

‘No customers were allowed to enter the premises except staff, the members of the public were asked to bring their own containers and queued at the door and were served by members of staff.’

The bar was open for the giveaway from 4pm to 6pm.

Mr West says visiting police officers were ‘amicable’ and didn’t ask for the venue to close.

However, a post on the bar’s Facebook page apologised if it seemed people were getting too close to one another.

‘We were visited by two local police officers whom were quite happy with the way we were operating,' he said.

‘A substantial amount of money was raised for the charity and at no time did we breach any of the government’s advice to social distancing and operating bars.’