With lockdown measures eased on the 4th of July, hospitality and leisure venues at the Albert Dock were delighted to welcome back guests, and enjoyed an extremely successful re-opening weekend.
Lunyalita, Maray and MADRE had fully booked tables with positive feedback from all customers, and family-run bakery Rough Hand Made completely sold out of all items on each day from Thursday-Sunday.
Each of the restaurants who opened at the weekend have put a number of measures in place to ensure customers can have a safe and enjoyable dining experience.
Customers at Maray can now enjoy their meal in the brand new quayside dining area, complete with bespoke timber and perspex screens providing stylish and private booth areas, which were a real hit with diners over the re-opening weekend.
Speaking about the success of the opening weekend, co-founder of Maray Thomas White commented, “It was a resounding success from both an operational and guest point of view. We were fully booked in the restaurant and made the decision to just keep our outside tables for walk-ins and drinks.
“The atmosphere was great, our guests were conscientious and patient, we didn’t have any issues with people not distancing or disregarding our policies and we received a great deal of positive feedback from diners about how comfortable they were made to feel.
“Our reservations are strong for the rest of the week, we are closely monitoring guest feedback so that we can make changes if we need to but with everything considered it was a massively encouraging start and it felt wonderful to welcome people back into the restaurant.”
Lunyalita reported similar success for the opening weekend with the restaurant fully booked for dinner reservations on the Saturday, and manager Tom Cavanagh saying, “It was a really successful weekend for us, we were busier than expected and customers were respectful of social distancing rules to make it an enjoyable experience for everyone”.
Family-run bakery, Rough Hand Made, opened on Thursday 2nd July offering a free coffee with every purchase to celebrate their return, and demand was so high they had to close early on both Thursday and Friday with all items selling out by 2.30pm.
Retailers are also enjoying welcoming visitors back, with independent clothes store Lost Soles reporting a steady flow of customers and positive sales since reopening.