TESTING errors led to two Barrow pubs being forced to undergo deep cleans.

The Royal Hotel, Barrow, and the King Alfred, Walney, were both told a customer who had been in their pubs had coronavirus.

The Royal Hotel shut its doors on Friday night to conduct a deep clean and contacted customers who were in on the same night as the supposed positive customer.

Although the King Alfred remained open they also carried out a thorough clean of their premises and contacted customers.

But, it was later revealed the man had never tested positive and the pubs were given the information in error.

Michael Mulgrew, owner of the King Alfred, said: “Someone rang the manager reporting the positive case. That was the first thing we heard on the Friday evening.

“Then the next morning we heard he had a negative test.

“At Saturday tea time we found out he had a second negative test but he also told us at that point that they’d informed him, the track and trace people, that the first test was a human error and that he’d always been negative.

“He never had a positive test.

“Whoever did the testing they said it was human error and they were very sorry.

“The track and trace guy I rang he said it was human error involving the testing people.”

Mr Mulgrew explained it had taken a lot of work to carry out the deep clean and to notify all the customers who were also in the pub on the night of the man.

“It worked out OK in the end,” added Mr Mulgrew.

“It was just a bit of a shock after all the work.”