And the day has finally come...

...When we can announce our re-opening plans!

We’re rather excited, as whilst the last umpteen weeks has given us a chance to get some much-needed projects done, we have missed you all and the usual hubbub of pub life. We’ve loved seeing all those who have been up for a takeaway and we want to say a massive thank you to all of you – the support you have shown us during this period has been humbling and quite frankly business-saving!

As you will be aware, our re-opening is dependent on implementing the guidance issued by the Government to help keep everyone safe. We have analysed the 43 pages and come up with the following to adapt The Bell for the New Normal.

We are asking everyone to help us follow these guidelines. Whilst it will make visiting the pub a different experience, by helping us stay within the guidance, we can hopefully all be happy, healthy and continue to minimise the spread of the virus.

We hate writing rules – in fact, those of you who know Roy will know he is usually the first to throw a rule book out of the window (Sally is far more conformist!) However, by making some adjustments now, we can work through this together and have a thriving pub at the end of Covid-19 that will be here for many years to come, when we can enjoy a more normal experience.

So, to help explain what the New Normal looks like, we’ll start with the less exciting adaptations!

• We won’t be able to let anyone sit at the bar. We will therefore not have any bar stools and you will be offered a table instead. We will have table service for drinks and food.

• We will ask you to write down your details when you visit. This is a requirement for re-opening and you should be aware the details will be shared if a contact tracer/NHS England gets in touch with us due to a local outbreak of Covid-19 and asks who has been in the pub in the last 21 days.

• We are super-mindful of the narrow/pinch points in the pub – so we will be operating a one-in-one-out system in the toilets and asking you stay at your table as much as possible.

• We will limit the number of people in the pub and garden at any one time. Having completed our risk assessment, this will be a maximum of 48 diners in one sitting, with staggered table times. All other tables available will be for drinks only.

• We need you to always book if you would like to eat with us. This will help us manage numbers in the pub and staffing levels, as we’re not able to have as many staff in at one time going forwards.

• We will ask everyone to abide by the social distance rules with regards to sitting with others. Please therefore stay at your table whenever you can and don’t push tables together unless you are sitting with those in your bubble/household (see our full re-opening document for more info).

• We are not allowed to have any live entertainment, or loud music, or screen events (such as sport) that would encourage cheering, chanting or uncontrolled merriment (OK, we added that last one!)

The better stuff – or what we have done to hopefully make your visit more fun!

There is a push to use outside spaces as much as possible, as they’re considered safer. However, we all know the British weather has a habit of doing its worst just when you hope to make the most of the great outdoors. We have therefore put up a chuffing great marquee (it really is a beast) so we have shelter when it’s needed and lots more seating available. The front will be left open, to maintain as much fresh air flow as possible, so bring a blanket for the evenings to tuck round yourself if you would prefer or need to sit outside!

Inside the pub we have laid the tables out with the 1m rule in place, and the other guidance in mind (e.g. positioning the tables so you don’t talk in the direction of other diners). You’ll notice there is less seating available indoors, but it is still possible to be inside if you would prefer – however, we advise you always book!

New opening hours and food service:

Wednesday through to Saturday

Open 12 to 3pm and 6 to midnight. Food served 12.30 to 2.30pm and 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

Sunday

Open 12 to 3pm and 6 to 10pm. Sunday roast served 12.30pm to 2.30pm and usual menu served 6.30 to 8pm.

Monday & Tuesdays – closed.

Food glorious food!

We will still be serving good pub grub when we re-open. But how we are doing this will be different.

We’ll have a new menu and all food will be served on disposable plates for the foreseeable future. This massively decreases the risk of virus spread, as we will not need to take plates back to the kitchen area for washing. We’ll have bins located around the pub for you to put your used containers in, or just leave them on the table and a staff member will do this for you. Cutlery will be provided, but you will be asked to place it in buckets provided when you’re finished with it, so we can wash it at the end of the shift. All condiments will be in disposable pots and sachets.

Our new menu expands on the takeaways we have been doing during lockdown and the dishes work well with the plans above.

The menu is pizzas, surf and turf! We’ll have our freshly made pizzas (and we have a brand new range of toppings for you to try), brilliant burgers developed with our butcher and a couple of fish options for those who like a bit of surf – these will be on the specials boards. There are also vegetarian options available and we will have a couple of house salads on the specials board as well.