Southsea restaurant and hotel Becketts reopens with reduced capacity

After being closed for around three months, Becketts, in Bellevue Terrace, has reopened with half of its dining area tables removed and a reduction in the number of staff on shift to ensure social distancing can be maintained.

The venue has begun a series of new safety measures while attempting to avoid a ‘clinical’ experience, according the restaurant's general manager Terence Carvalho.

She said: ‘Lots of places are putting up big plastic screens and we wanted to avoid the experience feeling too clinical.

‘We realised that we needed to change something, and so we put extra measures in place elsewhere so everyone stayed just as safe, but so that we could also give customers the proper Becketts experience.

‘So far customer response to the safety measures and new menu has been fantastic.’

New measures include sanitising stations at both ends of the restaurant, temperature checks on arrival for customers, and daily ones for staff, and taking the details of every customer for the NHS Track and Trace service.

Staff are only taking reservations over the phone so they can ensure every customer is briefed on the safety measures before they arrive and customers’ details can be taken and logged.

Owner and director of Becketts, Soraya Parker, said: ‘We’ve been overwhelmed with the support and positive feedback we have received from our customers since reopening.

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‘We took our time to do so and didn’t re-open immediately in order to understand the very comprehensive guidelines issued by the government regarding the hospitality industry.

‘We worked closely with our health and safety advisers to create an extensive risk assessment and put into place new Standard Operating Procedures for our staff to follow.’

Returning customers will also notice a new grill menu, which has been put together by head chef Jack Sencherey-Evans, and the front of the building has received a fresh coat of paint and a new flower arch.

The venue is open for hotel bookings, with extra cleaning procedures being carried out in all of the rooms.

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