A TOWN delicatessen and a village pub with Airbnb accomodation have been served with prohibition notices amid fire safety concerns.

Hereford and Worcester Fire & Rescue Service inspectors served a prohibition notice on Truffles Delicatessen in Ross-on-Wye High Street, which was found to lack adequate means of escape from its first and second floors, parts of which the owners have been told not to use, while a suitable fire alarm was also lacking.

The Crown Inn at Woolhope has also been temporarily closed for “essential work” after fire inspectors served a prohibition notice over safety failings, which says: “The premises must not be used for sleeping and/or resting at any time.”

The inn’s Facebook page now says it is closed between January 5-15, while work is undertaken.

An enforcement notice requiring work to improve fire safety has also been served at the Wye Knot Inn at Symonds Yat West

“There was not a specific focussed programme for visiting these addresses,” according to a spokesperson for Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

Under new legislation in force since October 2023 commercial premises, no matter how small, need to document a fire risk assessment and fire safety arrangements.