Wetherspoon employees are isolating after a member of staff at a busy city pub contracted Covid-19.

The employee at the Thomas Ingoldsby in Canterbury tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, after showing symptoms.

The worker and has now been required to self-isolate for a 10-day period, in accordance with public health guidelines.

Pub chain Wetherspoon, which operates almost 900 drinking spots across the UK and Ireland, has notified Public Health England of the situation.

Seven other members of Thomas Ingoldsby staff who may have come into close contact with the affected employee have also been asked to isolate for 14 days.

"Close contact" constitutes being within two metres of the infected employee for 15 minutes or more, or being within one metre of them for one minute or more.

A spokesman for Wetherspoon said: "Wetherspoon wishes the employee a full and speedy recovery.

"Since reopening, Wetherspoon has operated comprehensive social distancing and hygiene practices in all its pubs.

"These include reduced capacity levels, the spacing out of tables, the installation of a number of floor screens between tables and the addition of till-surround screens to the bar. Staff are conducting regular surface cleaning and numerous hand sanitisers have been installed in each pub.

"While it is not possible to create an entirely risk-free environment, adherence to social distancing guidelines and rigorous implementation of hygiene standards minimises the risk."

The pub is named after Thomas Ingoldsby - pen name of Richard Harris Barham, who was born across the road from the Wetherspoon in Burgate and wrote The Ingoldsby Legends.

It underwent a major £2.5mil refurbishment two years ago, when it also gained a new 13-bedroom hotel upstairs .

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