Owner James Aspell sent an application to HM Passport Office to register the bar as ‘The Church of The Four Hundred Rabbits’ because by law, place of worship are allowed to remain open at any level of the UK tier system.

According to Aspell, the new religion needs people to sign up to its congregation and members can choose to become a ‘bunny believer’ or a ‘reverend of the righteous rabbits’.

Aspell told Nottinghamshire Live: “The intention of this is to be a joke but it comes from a serious place.

“With the new restrictions we’re forced to close and it could be months before we can reopen. We don’t have a food offering so even if we were in Tier 2, we couldn’t open.

“We feel like we’ve been targeted unfairly, to an extent and it seems wrong. Everything from gyms to massage parlours can stay open and even the Christmas markets are happening – that was the point when I thought, this is ridiculous.

“We have no intention of opening unless the application is granted or when restrictions are lifted. If we were to open we’d follow government guidelines and I don’t think we’d be selling alcohol. We might be able to adapt in a different way and have some fun with it.

“We’re not doing this to offend anybody or break any rules.”