Sean's Bar opts to close doors over COVID-19 crisis

Sean's Bar in Athlone has announced it will close from 11pm Sunday due to the COVID-19 outbreak until further notice.

In a post on its website, the popular pub, Ireland's oldest, said: "Social distancing is not working especially for pubs like ours. In the best interest of the most vulnerable people in society, our staff and our customers we feel that we should close our doors now and reassess things in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Athlone Regional Sports Centre has also now decided to shut down.

"We have a duty of care to minimise social interactions as much as possible. We feel therefore the right thing to do is to take this to the next step and close our doors until Monday, March 30th in line with school closures and other public facilities."

The Sheraton Athlone Hotel Leisure Centre and Zen Leisure Centre in the Athlone Springs Hotel have also closed