A Blackburn restaurant owner says he has received death threats after his establishment breached coronavirus guidelines.

Waheed's was one of three places which was shut down by authorities in the past few days. The others were the Duke of Wellington pub in Great Harwood and Roberto's bistro in Blackburn.

Abdul Toheed, who runs Waheed’s Buffet and Banqueting Hall in Randal Street, Blackburn, spoke out after the latest anonymous caller threatened to ‘burn his place down’.

His restaurant was closed on Monday evening after the authorities found it held a wedding reception for 100-120 people on Sunday in breach of coronavirus guidelines.

He said: “Things have got out of hand.

"Yesterday I had three phone calls from people stating things like, ‘You deserve this. You P***' and ‘I am coming down to see you personally and sort you out.’

“And today an Asian man rang up swearing in Punjabi.

“He then said, ‘I am going to come down to burn your place down’ and ‘I am going to kill you’.”

Mr Toheed said the past few days had taken a toll on his personal and business life but threats like this were causing him to be fearful for his own safety.

He said: “I have tried to be as calm as possible. We have a business to run and staff to take of. But these type of threats are making us fearful.

“Have people got nothing better to do with their lives?

“I understand some people might be concerned but calling and threatening people in this way is no way to act.”

Councillor Parvaiz Akhtar said: “Regardless of the situation this is totally unacceptable.

“Nobody has any right to threaten any business or individual. We should all condemn such hate incidents.

“The council and the police have taken action and it should be left to them to investigate.”

Police confirmed they have received a complaint and are ‘looking into it’.