A SOUTH Belfast bar forced to close a home delivery service by police has set up a "call centre" to deal with thirsty punters after house calls restarted at the weekend.
The Hatfield House on the Ormeau Road began its Guinness home delivery service in April after pubs were forced to close due to the coronavirus.
However, days later it was forced to suspend the service when police stepped in.
Despite numerous requests the PSNI failed to tell the bar's owners what piece of legislation it is alleged to have breached.
The Hatfield''s owners later instructed a health and safety assessor, a barrister and a solicitor to challenge the suspension.
Their solicitor later wrote to the PSNI seeking clarification on which legislation had been breached but received no reply.
A judicial review against the PSNI's actions was later lodged.
At a High Court hearing last Friday interim relief was granted and the case is expected to reach a final conclusion this week.
Bar manager Richie Keenan last night said the service was resumed on Sunday and four vans fitted with pint pulling equipment delivered more than 350 pints of the 'black stuff' to people across Belfast.
Mr Keenan explained that social distancing rules are applied when delivering the pints.
When the delivery van arrives at a house the drinks are poured into a plastic glass and a lid is placed in them.
They are then placed in a tray before being left at the front door where they are picked up.
He also revealed that a “call centre" with nine or ten stations has been set up in the bar to handle the number of calls coming in.
“The phones are flat out in here and we had to go away and organise a bit better because of the volume coming in,” he said.
“We are over the moon to be back on the road again.”
Mr Keenan said staff members are also relieved to be back at work.
“The people who work here are all best mates,” he said.
“When those vans came off the road those young boys and girls got together and said they would work less hours so that nobody would lose their jobs or have to go on furlough.
“The last eight or nine weeks they all took a hit on their own pocket so that everybody would be here when we got up and running.”
