THERE was anger after final orders were called on Cumbria's pubs in a bid to stem the Coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday, prime minister Boris Johnson took the extraordinary step of ordering the temporary closure of restaurants and cafes, pubs, bars, nightclubs, cinemas, theatres, concert halls, bingo halls, museums, galleries, spas, massage parlours, casinos, betting shops and indoor leisure and sports facilities like gyms.

The closures will be reviewed on a month by month basis.

The move comes after the county's assistant chief constable Andrew Slattery warned that people were just "carrying on as normal" - and that appeals for social distancing were falling on deaf ears.

However the new reality cut no ice with Mark Smith, a regular at the Woodrow Wilson JD Wetherspoon pub on Carlisle's Botchergate.

He said: "It's like Marshall Law, the police have been in and said they had to close, why couldn't they have left it just for tonight and we could leave at regular closing time, its only another three hours."

Sandy Reay, 51, from Carlisle was also in the Woodrow Wilson.

She said: "I actually agree with it, If they don't do this they won't get on top of the Coronavirus - so yes I agree with it.

Another punter, who did not want to be named, said: "It is sad that it has come to this, I think we have all been a bit blaise about it.

"It seemed a lot of fuss over not very much but I think it is the right thing to do."

Landlords and landladies have also reacted to the closures.

David Scott, landlord of the The Boardroom, Paternoster Row, Carlisle, said: "I don't know what is going to happen it has all been very vague and it has not been clearly set out, what happens to my staff and what happens to the beer, it's likely to go off."

Dianne Irving, who runs the Howard Arms, on Lowther Street, said: "To be honest our first reaction is utter relief - the announcement was just what we wanted to hear.

"We had a real moral dilemma about what to do for the best - we were having to think about our staff and how best to look after them."

After the countrywide measures were announced communities secretary Robert Jenrick MP said: "We will do whatever it takes to protect people across this country as we tackle the coronavirus outbreak. 

"We are now telling entertainment and hospitality premises to close temporarily, and people to only travel if essential."

Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, also said the Government would shoulder 80 per cent of worker wage costs by businesses hit in the crisis.