Bar and two eateries ordered to close for flouting Covid-19 rules

The operators of three food establishments have been ordered to close their premises by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) for flouting safe management measures.

S-Tripes Hotpot, a restaurant in Havelock Road, will have to close from tomorrow to Sept 11, after SFA officers found that it had flouted the measures on multiple occasions.

This included selling alcoholic beverages after 10.30 pm.

The restaurant's staff transferred the alcoholic beverages into teapots and empty green tea bottles before serving them to avoid detection. Staff were also not wearing masks or not wearing them properly despite reminders to do so, said the agency.

The restaurant was fined $2,000 for the offences.

Whimsical Bar in Science Park Drive was ordered to close with immediate effect after SFA officers found that customers were consuming alcoholic beverages after 10.30pm.

The bar had also allowed groups of more than five people to sit together and mingle, the SFA said in a release last night.

The bar was also found to be operating without a food shop licence, and tables were placed less than 1m apart. It will have to remain closed until a licence is obtained, said the agency.

Its adjacent unit, Create Kitchen, also violated similar safe management measures, and was ordered to close from tomorrow to Sept 11. Both these businesses were fined $1,000 each for the offences.

Under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020, first-time offenders can be sentenced to a fine of up to $10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.

Repeat offenders may face a fine of up to $20,000, imprisonment of up to twelve months, or both.