The team from 1863, the Ullswater-based restaurant with rooms, are raising a glass to celebrate reopening on Thursday 20 May – its fifth birthday. As restrictions continue to ease, this plucky little restaurant with rooms, known for punching above its weight, reopens to guests by day, by night, overnight and at home as the pandemic has seen it innovate and evolve with the support of its fans from around the country.
Owner, Mark Vause, commented:
“Never in a month of Sundays did I think we’d be marking our fifth birthday by re-opening our business for a third time in 18 months because of a pandemic. But here we are, and we’re absolutely delighted to be able to say that, as we are all too aware that other businesses have not been so fortunate. Now the team’s focus is very much on doing what we do best – welcoming back guests and creating fabulous food.”
And the diary is looking busy. While evening dining and rooms are in high demand until late Summer, 1863 ‘by day’ (Saturdays and Sundays only) has good availability.
Head Chef and General Manager, Phil Corrie commented:
“We simply would not be here without the support of our customers from around Cumbria and indeed the UK. Thanks to them we’ve been able to launch two new initiatives despite lockdown. What lockdown did for us in a positive way was it actually allowed us to really look at the 1863 as a whole, take a step back and see where we could improve and how we could expand previous offerings.”
‘1863 by day’ came first, offering guests the chance to experience 1863 at lunchtime; it’s proved very popular, especially in the summer months as diners take advantage of the venue’s private courtyard garden area.
The November lockdown saw the team trial yet another new model – ‘1863 at home’ – weekly food boxes delivered nationwide. This was a very different model to their usual day-to-day running and took some getting used to at first.
Phil continued:
“Initially we thought this was just a way to engage with customers during lockdown however it turned out a major added benefit was that ‘at home’ really helped us keep our tight-knit team together throughout the more difficult lockdown winter months.”
And it’s become clear that there’s a real desire to see ‘1863 at Home’ continue as a regular offering. To facilitate this, the business has hired two more local people to join the team full-time. With just under two weeks to go until reopening, it’s safe to say the team is ready and raring to go!
Located in Pooley Bridge, 1863 Restaurant with Rooms has 2AA Rosettes for culinary excellence and are the winners of the 2018 Cumbria Life ‘Readers award’ and the highly-coveted 2019 ‘Taste’ Award in the Cumbria Tourism Awards.
To book a room, a meal by day or night or to order an ‘at home’ food box for delivery, visit www.1863ullswater.co.uk.