The first weekend went really well – we can seat around 75 in the garden and another 36 on the terrace and I d say both were full from 2pm onwards.
It was great having people back as well as our staff, who really thrived on the interaction and giving customers service again. All customers were great, supportive of all rules and liked the improvements we ve been working on.
We chose not to do food because our garden is around 75m away from the kitchen and on testing we found food went cold by the time it had got to the garden.
While we have a terrace just outside the kitchen that can seat up to 36, if booked as twos, it could be 18, and with the fear of cancellations and weather issues.
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Operators have shared their mixed reactions to news of a phased reopening of pubs with The Morning Advertiser, with one describing the Government s roadmap as a huge blow.
Jon Orman, owner of the Old Star Ale & Cider House, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, says the
announcement was a huge blow for micro-pubs like his. As a small wet-led venue with no outside space, we are dismayed and further disheartened by the government’s provisional schedule for reopening the hospitality industry. Pubs such as ours were previously rendered all-but inoperable under the tier system due to the ban on household mixing and the absurd ‘substantial meal’ requirements.
Now though we’ve had time to think harder about how our businesses work and many pubs are bringing in money-saving equipment and software to help boost the bottom line.
In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic pubs had to switch their businesses into more tech-focused operations for various reasons, but the main driver was the need for booking and payment systems.
Countless apps rose from the nowhere and were taken up by desperate operators who needed solutions to problems they’d never encountered before – mainly ordering and paying from tables but also the need for more intelligent booking software.