When Mark Henderson and Fred Harlow closed the doors to their three venues on March 14, last year, they had no idea what was going to happen next.
In the near 500 days since then, they have planned, then cancelled repeated reopenings, been forced to turn to the government for state support, and even considered pulling the plug completely.
Now, all-being well, the pair plan to reopen their three Bistro Live venues on July 23, and hopefully with a bang rather than a whimper.
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Mark said: “We will be going full ‘party, party, party’. There will be dancing on the tables – the full Bistro Live experience.”
The live music/restaurant business has operations in Leicester, Nottingham and Milton Keynes,
The first opened in Leicester’s Charles Street 20 years ago, offering three course meals followed by live music and DJs.
It has space for around 295 people. Dancing on the tables is a big part of the night which attracts everyone from hen parties to office outings, Christmas parties and leaving do’s.
Back at the start of the first lockdown they thought – like many – that things would be back to normal in a few months.
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Within a few days they had furloughed the vast majority of the 30 full-time and 90 part-time workers.
Mark said without government help there would have been no future, but even then said the hospitality sector had been left behind others when it came to the help available.
In the 492 days that have passed, Bistro Live would have expected to see revenues of £3 million. Instead the business generated nothing.
Mark said: “Last September/October we looked at what was happening and said ‘if we believe in this business we will back ourselves to take out a loan and see it through for another 20 years – if not, we will walk away now’.
“Financially I was very close to pulling the plug but mentally we all wanted to keep going.
“We were not prepared to throw away 20 years just like that.
“The most difficult thing we’ve found over the last 16 months is simply not knowing anything.
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“The last time I spoke to BusinessLive it was all systems go for Christmas, but that got hit by the lockdown restrictions last November. So we started thinking about opening in April, but were locked down again.
“Then we started planning to reopen on June 25 and had tonnes of bookings and then were told it would be another month, and we have had to deal with all the fall-out from that.
“It’s been very difficult to deal with - financially and operationally and mentally.
“I’m naturally a very positive person. During the first lockdown we were thinking about keeping staff motivated and had regular Zooms with them, to keep everyone on track.
“The only real message we could give them was that we were still around, taking as much government support as we could and trying to tell them everything will be OK.
“There were lots of times we were saying that but didn’t really believe it because it wasn’t OK because we didn’t know when we would be able to open.
“The last delay really hit us hard because we had sold so many nights.
“For June we had kind of planned reopening at around 60-65 per cent capacity –we hadn’t opened our doors for 15 months so going flat-out straight away could have been suicidal.
“We were trying to second guess what would happen and we are doing the same approach now – operating to about 65-70 per cent capacity for the first four weeks just to be sensible.
“One of the things we are finding is there is still a lot of reluctance. There are those that are desperate to get out and party – maybe the younger element – and waiting for the restrictions to be lifted.
“But there are a lot of people who are still reluctant and a bit sceptical, and they are the ones the industry has to reassure.”
Fred said: “We did look at trying to change the way we operated to achieve a limited form of opening as a more traditional restaurant but it soon became very clear that our customers wanted the Bistro Live they recognise and love – great food and an amazing party atmosphere – not to forget dancing on the tables.
“But we’ve been working really hard over the last few weeks to come up with some brand-new ideas, to make the new 2021 Bistro Live experience even better for our customers.
“We can’t wait to show off some of our new ‘innovations’ – new lighting, new decor, new food menus and new cocktails – we’ve definitely had plenty of time to think of some different things and to get the venue ready for re-opening.”
Mark said considering all that has happened, current bookings are not too bad, with people possibly waiting to see how things pan out.
He said the first few weeks look good, but “things could be busier” and getting Christmas bookings in will be key.
Up until now, though, state support has provided a lifeline.
He said: “The vast majority of the staff have been furloughed – it’s been an absolute Godsend.
“I’m sure that if it was not for that a lot of businesses would not be here now.
“Overall the support has been fantastic, though the one thing I would say was for our industry it’s not been enough.
“We’ve been closed 492 days and have probably had a similar amount of support as other businesses that have not been closed as long.
“We’ve taken out a sizable six figure CBILS loan that we will have to pay back over the next 10 years.
“Other payments have been delayed, but not cancelled and the challenge really starts now that we have to start paying the bills.
“We did get grants but they didn’t amount to much, maybe £60-70,000.
“The rents for our three buildings have been deferred – in Leicester that’s equivalent to about £70,000 a year.
“The landlords have been brilliant, and business rates have been on hold, but come back next month.
“We are so thankful of everything that has been deferred, but we’ve been building that up for later on, which has now come. We can’t complain about the levels of support from the landlords though.
“On the plus side we are still here and there are a lot of places that have gone to the wall, so we are grateful for everything.
“We have been through tough times over the years. The banking crash in 2009 was really tough and to get through this too and still be around shows how phenomenally well we have done.
“The spirit of everyone involved in the business has been brilliant.”