North Yorkshire Police thank landlords and drinkers after 'Super Saturday' passes 'without major incident' in Harrogate district

Here are ten pictures showing Harrogate's busy bars on 'Super Saturday'

The grand reopening of pubs and restaurants after months of lockdown had been dubbed 'Super Saturday' in Harrogate as it gave the town's £200m hospitality industry as chance to once again open its doors to the public.

Scenes in London and across other parts of the country have clearly shown how some revellers failed to keep to the social distancing measures put in place. Images from a crowded Soho caused much discussion on social media and left the chair of the Police Federation, John Apter, to state that: "What was crystal clear is that drunk people can't/won't socially distance."

ealth Secretary Matt Hancock said people had largely acted responsibly, saying the "vast majority of people are, I think, doing the right thing".

He told Sky News' Sophy Ridge: "Overall I'm pleased with what happened yesterday, it was really good to see people out and about and very largely social distancing."

Sir Simon Stevens, NHS England chief executive, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "Pleasingly, we did not see last night the kind of scenes that people feared might be. It was the foolish few, but the sensible majority."

North Yorkshire Police said that while there had been some small pockets of rowdy and antisocial behaviour across the county, there were no significant or large incidents due to the reopening of licensed venues.

Harrogate enjoys busiest day in months as lockdown restrictions eased

A statement from North Yorkshire Police read: "Our licensing team carried out a number of visits to licensed premises during the day and were pleased to report that all venues visited had worked hard to make their premises safe for customers."

Assistant Chief Constable Mike Walker, added: “My thanks to everyone who enjoyed last night responsibly and to the licensees who have worked hard over the past weeks to prepare for opening. It’s inevitable that with alcohol consumption comes antisocial behaviour and we were prepared for an increase in demand. It was busy but no more than a usual Saturday night.”

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