Signs go up as Wisbech restaurant owners announce exciting new move

While the pandemic may have left some business owners struggling to survive it has opened a new world of opportunity for one Wisbech restaurant owner.

Wisbech councillor Andy Maul and his partner Vikki Holmes were forced to rethink their business when they had to close the doors to their Bygones Café in Little Church Street because of lockdown.

When restrictions began to ease, but eating out was still a no-go, the couple, who have run the popular eatery for over 27 years launched a delivery service.

Andy said: "It proved a massive success we were rushed off our feet trying to keep up with demand. To be honest with you I had thought about doing a delivery service back in 2010 but never got round to doing it.

"We were amazed at how popular it was. In fact it left us absolutely shattered and so we managed to get away at the end of July to consider what we wanted to do."

The answer was to expand Bygones from its current home with a move to the former KFC premises just round the corner. The couple have been working tirelessly since they returned from holiday to transform the building.

"There is still quite a lot of work to do, but we are hoping to open on September 13. The new premises will allow us to keep the current 10 tables we have for eating in and also give us the capacity to carry on with the delivery service," said Andy, who admitted it was a difficult decision to make.

"To be honest there was a point where I wasn't sure I wanted to carry on at all. But the break away gave us a chance to assess things and we thought we would give it a go.

"The new kitchen is enormous, so it will allow us to do so much more. We are expanding our menu to offer vegetarian and vegan options and we will be looking at taking on extra staff.

"The building is a good choice because it has a walk-in fridge and freezer, which gives us plenty of storage, it also has air conditioning, and as I said the kitchen space is huge.

"Hopefully people will continue to enjoy our delivery service, and people will start to come back in larger numbers for a sit down meal. We are looking at extending our opening times to later in the evening, and we will be open Tuesday to Sunday, we will also be looking at getting an alcohol licence for Sundays only - but that is a while down the line.

"We hope it will work, but the truth is people will have to use us, or lose us. We are putting a lot of investment into this, to be honest the current premises needs a lot spending on it, but even after that it would not give us the options we want so the move had to be made."