SEVEN weeks have gone by since the hospitality sector was able to wake from its enforced winter slumber.

For many bar and pub owners, the four months without being able to trade was long and hard, while others took the time to carry out refurbishments and plan how to come back better than before.

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For Keith Davies and his wife Jane, running a bar during lockdown has become something of the norm, having only opened the Temple Cafe Bar on Witton Street in September last year, before the doors had to close not once but twice.

But as Keith explains, nothing beats that feeling of welcoming back customers, particularly since May 17, when we’ve all been able to take shelter and go back inside venues.

“Even when we were able to open outside and only operating a third of the number of tables, we were generally full all day long,” Keith said.

“It’s been nice, including when people were braving the weather and still smiling when it was throwing it down.

“One thing that was great to see was watching other people interact and be amongst other people again.

“And everyone seems to have much more patience than they used to.”

As well as tolerance, the mood in the air has definitely been jovial, with people just please to be able to get back to some kind of normality.

“You can definitely feel it in the air when people are happy,” Keith added.

“I’ve also noticed a difference since we were allowed to welcome people back inside too.

“There’s been new faces, perhaps those who were maybe waiting a bit longer to come back out, or until they could meet up with someone else.

“Business-wise, its just meant we’ve gone from strength to strength.”

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Temple Cafe Bar opened in September last year

With some businesses operating on a booking only system, with others doing walk-in only, Keith and the team at Temple have been using a mix of the two.

He said: “If people want to book they obviously can, but even if you haven’t and turn up and we’re full, we’ve offering to text people when a table comes up, which has gone down well.

“The last lockdown just allowed us to paint a few things and give the place a tidy up one last time to get it ready for hopefully a big run now.”

There is plenty of reason for optimism going forward, with plans to re-introduce evening dining on Friday and Saturday evenings in June.

“That’s all part of the next part of the progression really, Keith said.

“We opening of an evening on a Friday and Saturday just before Christmas and it proved to be popular.

“We also want to do something different of a Monday, such as dine and dance nights.

“Have some really nice tapas food and let them dance the night away when they can.

“Eventually, we hope to get some live bands in of a weekend too and that’s hopefully where we’re going.”