Officials at Haringey Council will work with businesses to ensure Covid-19 safety measures are maintained when people queue outside restaurants.

It comes after reports of a lack of social distancing caused by large queues in Green Lanes as people looked to take advantage of cut-price meals.

The issue was raised by Ian Sygrave, from Haringey Association of Neighbourhood Watches, during a meeting of the environment and community safety scrutiny panel on Thursday (September 3).

Although the queues were reported during the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out initiative, which has now ended, Mr Sygrave warned the problem could happen again if restaurants decide to offer their own discounts on meals.

He said there had been “serious problems” in Green Lanes, particularly in the evenings, with crowds of people queuing into the side roads and past front gates.

Mr Sygrave said: “There was no social distancing going on – it was really pretty grim at times. The police took the line it was a council matter. I wondered how far that was being monitored and who was responsible?”

Joe Benmore, Haringey’s interim head of community safety and enforcement, said the council had been engaging with businesses around social distancing measures to ensure they are complaint with the current regulations.

He said: “What we have seen – not just in Haringey but London-wide – is where these offers are taking place, we are seeing queues outside these premises, certainly from Monday to Wednesday.”

Mr Benmore said council officers had advised a restaurant about its responsibilities on social distancing and Covid-19 compliance and had not seen a recurrence of the problems.

He added: “We will continue, through our licensing and regulatory services, to engage with those premises to ensure we monitor the situation, including the issues around pavement licenses as well.”