Northampton's King Billy Rock Bar thanks customers after first 'full house' since lockdown

Northampton's King Billy Rock Bar is thanking its customers after it saw its first full night in months over the weekend.

The Bridge Street pub put out a emotional rallying call on Friday (October 2) asking for patrons to pay them a visit over the weekend and help them through a slump in sales.

In the emotional post on its Facebook page, the bar's staff asked: "Due to the Covid-19 10pm restrictions if we are not supported this weekend from 12noon until 10pm we will have to shut the doors permanently.

"This is not a decision we want to take but we at this point may have no choice."

Now, the bar's manager Andy Green says the Billy - which under Covid can seat 54 people indoors - had its first evening at full capacity in months on Saturday following the shout out.

Andy said: "Saturday pulled us back on tack for now. Like many grassroots music pubs we're still living hand-to-mouth in a sense but it really helped.

"We're working on how we can bring back some sort of live entertainment any way we can until we're allowed to play live touring bands again.

"But I want to say a big thank you to all the customers who came out to support us over the weekend, it's really appreciated."

Andy told the Chron the Billy has been hit hard without its usual line-up of touring bands.

The live music pub typically sees more than 300 bands play a year.

For more information, visit the King Billy's Facebook page.It comes after pubs across the UK have been restricted to closing at 10pm.