THE owner of a popular Bradford bar is looking forward to welcoming back customers for the first time in more than six months when it reopens tomorrow.

The Record Cafe, North Parade, will reopen its doors at 2pm tomorrow after being shut since November last year.

Owner Keith Wildman decided to wait until a few weeks after pubs were allowed to reopen by the Government in April to make his venue as safe as possible for customers.

He says people can expect a number of changes to the layout and set-up at the bar, including table service, payment by card only, face coverings must be worn if people are not seated and the rule of six will apply. The venue is not taking bookings, just walk-ins.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

Other changes include staff greeting each customer as they enter the bar, taking down their details for the NHS’s Track and Trace scheme and people using the hand sanitising station provided.

The bar has had a makeover ahead of its reopening and Mr Wildman says his venue has benefitted from a decrease in the two-metre social distancing guideline.

The venue will be open at 11am, seven days a week, but will close at 9pm on weekdays and 10pm on Friday and Saturdays.

Mr Wildman remains cautiously optimistic that restrictions will be fully lifted later this month as he welcomes customers back to the venue, often a pitstop for fans on Bradford City home matchdays in the past.

He said: “It’s great to be back, but there is some trepidation of what we’re going into. I’m looking forward to being back. Hopefully the restrictions will be fully lifted on June 21.

“We have left it a bit longer to re-open to make sure there weren’t any changes that would see everything will close down again. It seems like such a long time since we closed in November.

“We’ve had 18 months of open-close, open-close and changing restrictions, which has made me nervous. This time we will see how it goes.

It’s looking a lot more positive for the restrictions than it did before. This time it feels like it’s going to be it. The last thing we wanted was to open up and the Government to say that we had to close again

“The restrictions we’ve had to bring in at the bar are an extension of what we’ve always done anyway.

“We’re just getting back into the swing of it. It seems hard to go from closed to open - it’s zero to 100mph.

“We will be getting used to the hustle and bustle of it all again.”

The Record Cafe’s initial opening hours under the current restrictions are: Monday: 11am-8pm; Tuesday to Thursday: 11am-9pm; Friday and Saturday: 11am-10pm and Sunday: 2pm-7pm.

The venue will also be taking part in two Record Store Days which will be held in the UK on June 12 and July 17.