Hardest of times but there is light now: Restaurants gear up to reopen

That’s the date on which they opened their doors to the public of The Hundred House, in Norton, between Bridgnorth and Telford, 34 years ago.

They’d completed a ground-up restoration of a venue that was to go onto become one of the region’s most noted and successful pub-restaurants. It’s fitting, therefore, that they’ll return to business today, following a 100-day-plus lockdown.

No time has been wasted since businesses were forced to close. The interior has been extensively lightened up, furniture stripped back and new oak table tops buffed to a light gold.

The venue’s long held closeness to nature has been accentuated with floral and food-related artwork in the Garden Room, as well as the new airy marquee delicately decorated with flowers, next to the Herb Garden, which guests are encouraged to explore.

Every weekend, you can watch your food being cooked in the BBQ kitchen, over Kadai Firebowls or in wood fired Pizza oven.

For the second opening there is a sense of space but closeness to nature. Bringing in herbs from the garden and reworking the menus in a contemporary ‘street food meets tapas meets Hundred House classics’ fashion.

Exec Chef and Managing Partner, Stuart Phillips, says: “We have a spacious beer garden, open marquee and cosy interior with many nooks. With our new woodfired inspired menus we can’t wait to get cooking.”

Partner and brother David, says: “The beers will be flowing. Three Tuns & Woods Brewery on tap as well as popular chilled lagers, gorgeous wines, a gin for every mood and our own Elderflower Cocktails, to name a few. We are really looking forward to the second coming.”

The venue is adhering to social distancing and is looking forward to a busy weekend. During the past three months it’s been hit hard, like so many venues.

It’s had to postpone over 70 weddings but has teamed up with other local businesses to provide support, selling gifts and flowers for a florist who cannot reopen their shop yet due to childcare.

During lockdown, the venue cut down more than 2,000 flowers, which were sold off at a local farm shop to raise funds for NHS and supported its team. It provided food parcels for locals in its village as well as staying in touch via WhatsApp, creating competitions to keep everyone in touch such as “guess how many containers of mashed potato I can make to freeze this afternoon?” The answer was 76.

Chefs volunteered to create dishes for Food Share Project, using food that would have ended up at landfill, to feed the needy and vulnerable. Over 4,000 dishes were made during lockdown.

Besides those adaptations, staff have continued to plant and maintain a working kitchen garden, herb garden, pumpkin field, despite not knowing if they’d be opening. They created new menus and an outdoor kitchen, complete with authentic Kadais and a pizza oven. They’ve also sourced extra toilets, built a new website, pollarded trees and completed such unglamorous jobs as etching logos into Perspex.

A few miles up the road, David Clay, at Clay’s of Broseley, has found lockdown decidedly unusual. He quickly adapted to provide food for people to eat at home and is unsure what the future holds for the hospitality sector.

He said: “It has been challenging for all of us and will remain so for some time. We were lucky that we have had really good customer support since the ‘change’ and continue to do so.

“Personally, it has been mentally and physically very straining, but somehow I have managed to ‘keep calm and carry on’. My sister died out of the blue in March, my father became seriously ill which resulted me in caring for him at his home in Yorkshire, dashing up the M6 each Sunday afternoon until Thursday morning, giving me time to return to Broseley to open up for business Friday to Sunday. That continued for 12 weeks until unfortunately he passed away the day before Father’s Day.

“At the same time I would continue to run the business trying to offer something different each week for our customers – hoping to keep them interested and coming back for more. I’m not sure what the future holds but for now we don’t plan to open the restaurant in the foreseeable future. It is something we are thinking about – however, we feel at the present time it is too much of a risk to do so. Our restaurant has limited space, so we are being extra cautious in the current climate. We are keeping a close eye on developments regarding COVID-19, and we will make changes where and when we feel comfortable adopting them.”

Other venues are looking forward to re-opening. The Granary Brasserie, at Weston Park, sits on the border between Shropshire and Staffordshire. Their team has been busy getting ready to welcome people back to enjoy lunch or dinner from today.

The dining experience may be a little different but the warm welcome and delicious food will remain the same.

A spokesperson said: “We have put procedures in place to ensure that Weston is Covid-secure for both our staff and guests. We will be applying these same protocols to the Granary Brasserie when we re-open. We have reviewed the guidance outlined by the Government and supported by trade body UK Hospitality to ensure we can welcome you safely.”

The venue is taking the booking details of guests so that it can comply with the Government’s ‘track and trace’ programme if required. It only requires one contact per table booking and while it strongly recommends that people make a reservation, it will be accepting walk-ups if there is room and will ask for contact details upon arrival. People will be asked to use the hand sanitiser available upon arrival and tables will be sufficiently spaced out to ensure the required social distancing.

Orders will be taken at tables. High standards of hygiene will apply in the restaurant, from regular toilet cleaning through to the kitchen.

“All our team will be routinely washing their hands, sanitising work stations and public areas and wearing face masks and gloves where appropriate. To eat indoors we will be welcoming groups of up to two households, including support bubbles, and outdoors we can welcome two households or a group of up to six people from any number of households. We will ask people to maintain social distancing at all times with diners that are not in their party.”

The region has plenty of larger chain restaurants, many of which will also re-open today. One of those is Bill’s, in Birmingham’s Bull Ring.

Bursting with British flair, vibrant interiors, outdoor space and the freshest of seasonal ingredients, Bill’s will welcome back diners to the restaurant in Birmingham, from breakfast to dinner, and everything in between. Guests can look forward to the deliciousness of Bill’s dishes in advance – from the famous pancakes to the Bill’s burger, with reservations open.

With service still very much a priority, the restaurant will be implementing the highest standards of health and safety, ensuring both guests and employees will be dining and working with confidence and in a safe environment. Measures will include temperature checks on arrival, the use of tracking software for all employees logging daily temperature readings over a seven-day rolling period as well as deep cleaning and disinfecting on a daily basis. Dedicated members of staff have been appointed to ensure that health and safety is at its highest standard on an on-going basis.

These are a few of the measures that have been implemented with more detailed information being published prior to opening.

Bill Collison, Founder of Bill’s, says: “Myself and the team are excited to open our doors once again in Birmingham. We have missed our friends and being part of our communities, and are ready once again to welcome our guests back. We have worked tirelessly to ensure we can create a fantastic experience for all, whilst being safe in the knowledge that we have taken every precaution for the safety of our diners and employees.”

Back in Shropshire, one restaurant will combine a return to normal trade with the continuation of a successful drive-thru service. Smoke Stop BBQ, near Shrewsbury, will re-open for dine-in customers on Saturdays and Sundays while continuing to operate drive-thru on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. They will re-evaluate in August, or before, as things change.

While bistros, pub-restaurants and others will be opening today, some of the region’s most successful restaurants will remain closed for a while.

The Michelin-starred Carter’s, of Moseley, has undergone a complete refurb during lockdown while also launching a new hamper delivery service. That will continue for now.

Proprietor Brad Carter said: “In-line with the direction given by the Government, we have temporarily closed Carters of Moseley until further notice and for the foreseeable future, so as to ensure the safety of our community.

“Although the doors to the restaurant are currently closed, we continue to remain positive in our efforts to promote togetherness in these difficult times. There are a great number of uncertainties facing our society at the moment and the most important thing we can do is take care of one another.

“To all of our guests, from the deepest part of our hearts we want to thank you for supporting us. We have been humbled by the extreme levels of generosity you have showed our team over the past several weeks and this fills us with the confidence that whatever challenges lay ahead we will face them together.

“If you would like to continue to support your local independent restaurants that have had to temporarily close, most offer the opportunity to purchase gift vouchers.

“The road ahead will certainly be difficult so remember to take care of your friends, family and neighbours. We will get through this together. We look forward to welcoming you back to the restaurant, we will be back; bigger, stronger and full of new ideas to share with you.”

Another Michelin-starred restaurant, Purnell’s, however, will re-open today. Chef patron Glynn Purnell led Birmingham’s gastronomic renaissance and is a regular on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen.

He said: “There will be a few changes in place whilst we adjust to a slightly new way of working to allow us to meet the requirements necessary to keep everyone safe. We are very excited to see you all again and will make your visit worth the wait!

“We re-open for lunch and dinner today and will be open for lunch tomorrow. To celebrate Purnell’s Restaurant’s 13th Anniversary, we will have two special evenings on Monday and Tuesday, why not book a table and come and celebrate with us?

“Online booking is available now for all available dates from today onwards. Purnell’s Reception is now open for enquiries and bookings. Thank you so much for your continued support, it really is appreciated by us all.”

From Thursday, Purnell’s will open for lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with dinner also available on those three days.

Restaurants in our region have faced a turbulent time during the Covid-19 lockdown. They are not out of the woods yet. While some will re-open this weekend, others do not plan to return to work until September at the very earliest. Some will never return.

Even when restaurants re-open their doors today, things will be a lot different. Social distancing means many restaurants will have fewer tables while the number of staff required will also fall. Widespread redundancies have already taken place and more will inevitably follow.

The sector has a strong reputation for creativity and innovation and a large number of restaurants have managed to trade through lockdown, introducing new cook-at-home boxes, click-and-collect services, drive-thrus and more. These have been the hardest of times, but many have survived.