A pub says people who entered its beer garden without permission are behind a breach of coronavirus regulations.

The Railway Tavern in Stanford-le-Hope was forced to close its doors during England’s Euros match against the Czech Republic last night following an incident during a previous match.

Thurrock Council has ordered the pub to remain closed during all future England games up to June 29.

Bosses said the pub had failed to take action over concerns about breaching Covid rules despite several warnings.

But in a post on Facebook, the Railway Tavern has revealed the breach came after punters broke down one of its garden fence panels and entered the garden area during England’s match against Scotland on Friday.

Announcing it would have to close for yesterday’s match against the Czech Republic, the pub said: “Thanks for your support but unfortunately we cannot show the match tonight.

“As we said the other day a fence was breached and too many people entered the garden of the pub.

“We planned today to add extra security and limit the attendance but in the interest of public health we have been asked to close during the match which we will adhere too.

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“We do take covid serious and we expect our customers to do so when they enter our premises.”

Bosses at the pub had introduced a ticket policy for future England matches to control the number of customers during England matches.

They say they will refund punters who purchased tickets and plan to donate money to charity as previously planned.