A BAR which shut voluntarily after being investigated over a social media video showing large numbers of customers partying in its outdoor courtyard without social distancing has now been served with a formal closure order.

The footage showed a crowd of people hugging, dancing closely together, chanting and singing in and around a tented area behind Harvey’s Bar on Cow Lane, Burnley.

Last month, after talks with the borough council’s licensing department and police, its owners closed the cocktail venue.

But now, over concerns that the bar might reopen, Lancashire County Council has issued a formal closure order banning it from operating without explicit permission.

It says that save for two named persons connected with the management of the bar ‘the premises remain closed to all other members of the public at all times and without exception’.

The Lancashire Telegraph has made several attempts to contact Harvey’s for comment without success