A pub company has appeared at Exeter Crown Court accused of health and safety failures that allegedly caused 200 customers to suffer from a vomiting bug.

Mitchells and Butlers run the Toby Carvery in Exeter which was closed down temporarily for deep cleaning on two occasions in April 2015 after scores of guests complained of illness.

They included 24 staff from the Cats Protection League in Exeter who had all attended the same leaving party at the pub at Middlemoor, Exeter.

Medical tests showed the illness was caused by the virus called norovirus, which caused vomiting and diarrhoea for about 24 hours.

The Carvery is popular with customers from all over the area and those who were allegedly affected by norovirus came from as far afield and East Devon and Teignbridge.

The pub and restaurant are owned and run by the brewers Mitchells and Butlers, who have applied to the court to have the case dismissed and have commissioned their own specialist reports.

Mitchells and Butlers, which is based at Fleet Street, Birmingham, runs 1,784 pubs and restaurants all over Britain including the Toby Carvery, All Bar One, Browns, and Harvester chains.

They are accused of a single offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act of failing to ensure the safety of customers at the Toby Carvery in Exeter between March 28 and April 8, 2015.

The charge specifies that they ’failed to conduct an undertaking in such a way as to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that persons not in their employment who may have been affected thereby, were not exposed to risks to their health and safety’.

Mr John Cooper, QC, defending, asked that the company should not be asked to enter a plea until a special hearing on their application to dismiss the case had been heard.

He said they also intend to argue that the case is an abuse of process.

Mr Simon Morgan, prosecuting on behalf of Exeter City Council, said they plan to serve more expert evidence in the next few weeks.

Judge Timothy Rose set a timetable for the case leading up to a five-day hearing on February 18, 2019, to decide on the company’s application to dismiss.

He expressed concern about the long delay in the case coming to court, which will result in any full hearing taking place more than four years after the alleged offence.