A well-known restauranteur in the district has closed three of his restaurants after staff members were 'pinged' by the government's track and trace system.

Jonathan Spencer, who operates Orbis Oakham, Orbis Stamford, and Hoppi Dorri, will close the three venues until Wednesday.

He said on Facebook yesterday: "Due to several members of staff between Oakham and Stamford restaurant being contacted by track and trace we have made the decision to close today while we assess the situation fully and await further guidance.

"This really isn't what hospitality needs at the minute but unfortunately judging by the amount of other restaurants that we have already seen and the amount of children being sent home from school we think it's going to be quite a common feature over the coming weeks especially.

"All of our customers have been contacted by our management (please check your voicemail if you haven't heard)."

Today, he then announced the venues would remain closed until Wednesday.

A further Facebook post continued: "Following our earlier post we have now made the decision to close for the rest of the week (until Wednesday 21st July)

"We are gutted to say the least! But we believe this is the correct decision.

"We are waiting for further guidance and clarity from public-health England but as it stands we do not believe there to be any concern to any customers as we have not been open since Saturday night anyway due to our usual opening hours.

"It's going to be a scary few weeks ahead for all I feel. My newsfeed has been full of even more places closing since my post earlier."

He added: "The even more frustrating thing for businesses is there is now no financial support available.

"We hope everybody stays safe and we look forward to seeing you all when we can reopen safely next week."

As the Evening Standard reported, the track and trace system is causing a crisis for the hospitality sector, which was already reeling from pandemic lockdowns and staff shortages.

Similarly, hundreds of thousands of schools are also being sent home due to odd cases at schools.

The problems caused by the NHS track and trace system is leading many people to delete the app, national media has also reported.