A village hall committee cleared up the confusion over council officials who stopped a supporter selling bacon rolls at a football match.

The committee that runs Little Thetford village hall originally thought it was an environmental health officer who stopped it.

But now the committee says it has discovered the issue was over a street trading licence – and the bacon roll seller did not have one.

The bacon rolls were sold on match days but they have now been stopped after the council warning.

After the village hall committee posted a statement, a spokesperson said: “As the person is selling to the public, they would have to pay for the appropriate licences to allow this to happen.

“This would mean a lot of jumping through hoops and extra added costs.”

The hall committee says they now want to offer their help and support to the resident that sold bacon rolls who they describe as “valued and much loved”.

In a separate development the hall has been contacted by the environmental health department about its pop-up café.

“We were not cooking on the premises or charging and profiting from serving the coffee and cake,” said the committee’s statement.

But it’s not all bad news.

The charity that runs the hall say they accept concerns over allergies, hygiene standards, food preparation and food labelling.

“For a charity, we did feel it was a bit over the top, but we also don’t want to be responsible for someone suffering a serious allergic reaction as a result of what we failed to do,” said the committee.

The hall has re-registered and will be inspected this month when they hope to receive their new hygiene rating.

“We’re able to continue the pop-up café just as long as we remain compliant with food hygiene standards and requirements, which we will,” said the statement.

“We understand where the environmental health officer is coming from; they have a difficult job to do to strike a balance between keeping people.

“We don’t want people to stop enjoying these simple pleasures and we will do what we can to keep going, but also help others to do the same.”

Liz Knox, environmental services manager at East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “We are keen to support anyone operating on a not-for-profit or a commercial basis, especially those who take the time and effort to support our local communities.

“However, as a council, it is our duty to ensure any individuals or organisations which sell food or trade goods adhere to local and national licensing laws and policies.

“Anyone who wants to sell goods in any areas to which the public have free access, requires a Street Trading Consent.

“The purpose of consent is to ensure all the relevant documents are in place, such as public liability insurance and food hygiene safety certificates, for the protection of the public and the wider community.”