A huge crowd of people were snapped outside Sydney’s Inner East venue, The Golden Sheaf Hotel on Wednesday night. The image emerged on Reddit, showing people blowing off the state’s social distancing rules and with no masks visible in the image.
The image, which was shared on r/Sydney, captured hundreds of people lining up to enter The Golden Sheaf Hotel and has sparked concerns that Sydney could be following in Melbourne’s footsteps.
The ABC reports that Liquor and Gaming NSW will be investigating claims that up to 250 people were gathered outside the venue.
Dimitri Argeres, Director of Compliance Operations, told the ABC that they’ve sought an explanation from the venue’s management.
“We are treating this matter extremely seriously.
“Venues should be aware that Liquor and Gaming NSW conducts both overt and covert inspections to check for compliance with COVID restrictions,” Argeres said.
NSW Police have confirmed they were called to The Golden Sheaf Hotel that night.
“Police liaised with the manager before assisting security with restricting the number of people in the line to comply with social distancing guidelines,” they said in a statement.
“The remainder were moved on from the area.”
NSW Police say no one was fined for the incident and the venue was complying with COVID-19 restrictions inside the venue.
The Golden Sheaf Hotel’s operator, Solotel Group’s CEO, Justine Baker says the venue practised “strict social distancing and COVID hygiene and safety procedures”.
“We take the safety of our guests and staff very seriously,” she said.
“We employ management and security staff to monitor queues constantly — at the Golden Sheaf last night we worked immediately with police to disperse the crowd and ensure social distancing measures were established.”
Baker then said it is the “collective responsibility” of staff, guests, operators, and authorities to ensure the safety of each other.
