Covid Update August 2021
All our properties are open 7 days a week with normal trading hours. There’s always a risk that we might have to close to deal with a local outbreak of Covid, so please do check on our social media channels for the latest updates.
We continue to run with all the normal Covid secure provisions to keep both you and our staff as safe as we can.
All staff wear face coverings in public areas unless they have a medical reason not to. We leave it to guests to decide if they wear face coverings themselves. We also continue to try and maintain a reasonable distance between both guests and staff.
Covid Security
Since the beginning of the crisis in 2020 we have completely overhauled our business to adapt to the effects of this virus. Here is a guide to the main changes that we have made, with the proviso that there may be further adjustments as we respond to the latest government guidelines.
A business like ours is well used to dealing with rigorous health & safety standards but we have also brought in a leading safety consultancy called Food Alert to provide a comprehensive ‘Covid-19 Standard’ audit. This checks our whole approach to dealing with Covid-19 including our documentation, people, premises & physical distancing, cleaning and PPE. And on top of all of that we have also had an AA Covid audit.
People
Our staff are obliged to have a temperature check every day before their shift & fill in a health questionnaire. Anyone with any Covid-19 symptoms is not permitted to start a shift and we will check that the correct self-isolation procedures are then followed. Everyone will have the appropriate personal protection equipment in line with the latest government guidelines and will have been trained in the new service techniques to meet health & safety standards. This will include face coverings.
Our staff have been trained to sanitise their hands before taking anything to our guests and again if they remove anything from the table.
We have a stringent staff testing regime to minimise the risk of the virus spreading at work.
Premises
We have made some quite big changes to our furniture layout to increase the gaps between groups and this includes adding screens where necessary to manage gaps. We have done it in a way which we hope maintains a great atmosphere and we have done our best to get around the challenges of working in old and beautiful buildings. There will be some circulation areas where it will be difficult to avoid getting close to each other and we just ask that everyone uses common sense and maintains a great sense of humour!
We will carefully control the number of people in the building and have hosting arrangements so that we can control movement on the floor and help our customers through these changes and manage any stresses and strains. We will be providing table service in all parts of the building.
Hand sanitisers are distributed around the building for your use.
Restaurant & Bar
We’re booking tables for the restaurant as usual and we really encourage early booking, as our capacity is reduced from before. We are also making a number of changes to the way cutlery and condiments are provided to minimise contact and we apologise in advance if they seem a little cumbersome.
The bar has table service only for the moment, although you can order at the bar if you wish. Sadly, you can’t stand at the bar as before – but luckily, we have plenty of tables so there’s no need to book if you just want to have a drink.
Rooms
Check in and out has been changed to minimise the need for personal contact. We have also updated our room confirmation information.
Our old room information brochure (full of the most interesting information!) has been thrown in the bin but is now downloadable via phone using a QR code in the room. We can provide a disposable hard copy if needed too.
Risk Assessments
We have prepared a suite of risk assessments for trading under the new Government guidelines. These can be seen by clicking on the logo for each site.
