A YORK bar has installed a thermal imaging camera to help protect staff and customers from the risk of coronavirus when it reopens from lockdown on Saturday.

Everyone entering The Terrace, a sports bar in Fossgate,will be automatically screened by the camera and anyone whose high temperature is picked up will be checked with a digital thermometer. If their temperature is above 38C, showing a fever, they will be refused entry.

Landlord Paul Gardner says he believes it's the only York pub with such a camera, which are in place at some airports to help prevent infected people boarding planes.

He said it was part of a series of safety measures he had imposed to try to make feel secure, which would reduce his capacity from about 350, including an outdoor area, to just 130.

These will include a request for lead guests' details on entering to potentially assist NHS track and trace. "We will take a photo of your ID (Passport /Drivers License/ Prove It Card) which will be stored on our iPad with the date and time logged for 21days as requested by government guidelines," he said.

He said the bar would be operating a one-way system, with entry through the front door and exit via the side door, and the toilets would have a maximum occupancy of two people at any one time, with a one in, one out policy.

Posting on the bar's' Facebook page, he asked customers not to move tables which had been placed with social distancing in mind. He also said: "Please be patient with us and please remember that not a single member of bar staff is suddenly an expert in disease control...

"So when 20 of you show up to finally go out on the lash after three months of lockdown, it's not the minimum wage bar-person’s decision to tell you no, but they have to anyway.

"When they ask you not to let your children run round, please don't go off on one and threaten to boycott the pub.

"When eight of you try to book a meal because you've not seen your grandkids for three months, it's not the manager's fault group sizes are limited, so don't demand to see them and tell them they're wrong."