The owners of a Norwich restaurant and a hotel in north Norfolk have announced the date they plan to reopen – saying they can’t pin their plans on government.
Hannah Springham and her husband Andrew Jones run The Farmyard in St Benedict’s Street and The Dial House at Reepham.
Both sites are planning to reopen on July 4, with the pair taking bookings for meals, overnight stays and wedding tours.
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Ms Springham said: “We can’t be left in the same position the building industry was, where they were given a couple of days to get back to work. Our industry doesn’t just work like that, we wouldn’t be able to pay the first month’s payroll if we had to open overnight without any bookings.”
Each venue has already had around 20 bookings for meals, as well as overnight stays and tours.
“We were really worried for a while that people wouldn’t come,” she said. “It’s wonderful that people are ready. We’ve got social distancing measures in place, for example each meal booking is a two hour slot and we’re serving the food from a hostess trolley. That way people can stand up and take their food without coming into contact with waiting staff.”
She added that if the government put back the reopening date for restaurants and hotels, she was prepared.
“We’ve planned this based on experience other industries have had. July 4 seems to be the date everyone’s talking about, and there was even talk of it being earlier,” she said. “If we have to put it back then we’ll move the booking of course, and will offer a complimentary drink or something along those lines.”
At the Dial House people will be able to remain distanced within their rooms.
“What’s also been really surprising is the amount of wedding tours we’ve had booked,” she said. “We offer small intimidate weddings where you can rent the whole house as part of a deal. I think because people have realised they can’t have big weddings with loads of people they’re looking at the smaller venues where they can just take the place over for the event.”
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