‘It’s been tough but we’re excited to be reopening. Hopefully, we’re back for good this time’

THRILLED TO BE BACK: James MacLeod-Birch. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography

Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the hospitality industry. As he prepares to reopen again after the latest lockdown, restauranteur James MacLeod-Birch spoke to Rick Lyon about the challenges the pandemic has posed and his hopes for the future as restrictions are eased

When Rupert & Darwin opened in Hull in September 2019, it wanted to offer diners a different experience.

It set out to provide fine dining at more affordable prices in a relaxed, informal atmosphere.

And it seemed co-owners James MacLeod and David Rooms had really hit upon something, with rave reviews and encouraging bookings. Word was spreading and momentum was building.

Then the country went into lockdown.

Rupert & Darwin, on Princes Avenue, had only been open five-and-half months.

Now, as it reopens again today after the latest easing of restrictions, James and his team are hoping they are here to stay this time around.

“We’ve been really looking forward to reopening and welcoming people back” he says.

“I’m really excited but there’s also a bit of trepidation, as we don’t know how long it is for.

“The pressure is certainly on the Government to not scapegoat the hospitality industry any more now though, so I’m hoping that will make it a little harder for them to shut us down again.

“I’m maybe being a bit optimistic but I’m hoping we’ll now be open for good, even if we have to work within restrictive limitations in certain areas.

‘We hit a brick wall with lockdown’

“I know they are talking about the possibility of local lockdowns if there’s a spike but, eventually, we’ve got to get back to some kind of normality. We’ll have either got rid of the virus or have found a way to live with it.

“If the economy keeps going down then inherently the health of the nation will keep doing down.”

James began his career working in Michelin star restaurants in London with the likes of Gary Rhodes and Peter Gordon, and is well known in Hull and East Yorkshire for his time at 1884, on the marina, and The Star Inn at Sancton, among others.

He says the national lockdown came as a body blow when Rupert & Darwin was just beginning to establish itself.

“The restaurant was really starting to build momentum and then, after the first few months, we hit a brick wall with lockdown,” he says.

“We saw it coming about a month away. We’d actually had a conversation with [Hull North MP] Diana Johnson and she asked us what we thought of the idea of a national lockdown. We were of the view that if it was needed to solve the issue, and we could then reopen again, then it wasn’t a problem.

“It was around this time the media had started reporting it might happen, so there were rumblings about it.

“The way it happened was a little upsetting, when people were told they shouldn’t go to restaurants. At that point, it just meant we weren’t getting any customers and we didn’t have any support.

“Luckily, a week later, it became an actual lockdown, which meant we were at least able to get some support.”

REOPENING: James MacLeod-Birch and the team at Rupert & Darwin are back this weekend. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography

That support included the Government’s furlough scheme, which allowed Rupert & Darwin to keep on its full team of 13 staff. They even retained one member of the team who had been due to leave, as he wouldn’t have been eligible for furlough with his new employer.

They redistributed stock so it didn’t go to waste, including donating meat and fish to a care home run by James’ sister.

“Every time we’ve opened and then closed again, it has cost us a lot of money, and there’s nothing we can do about that,” says James.

“We’ve had to think ‘if this happens again, will we be able to reopen?’ We only have so much cash in reserve.

“It actually got to the point where, to make sure the staff were fully paid, I had to sell my car and do all sorts. I’ve done that now and I don’t have anything left to sell!

“It’s been tough on everybody though. There’s an inherent instability working in hospitality and it seems to be the first industry targeted at times. That’s difficult.”

Whilst thrilled to be reopening today – the restaurant will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only to start with – James says he and his team are also going into the weekend with a few nerves.

“When you work in hospitality it becomes your life, because you spend more time with the people you work with than you do with your own family,” he says.

“To be out of that for so long can make it quite daunting to come back to and I think some people have been nervous about whether they can still do it.

“I’m sure we’ll all quickly get back into the rhythm but it’s quite nerve-wracking. We just can’t wait to get going now.”

‘We don’t want people feeling nervous, we want them to be happy to be in’

Despite managing financially to keep the full team on, Rupert & Darwin is recruiting for kitchen staff as people have moved on to work in other sectors.

It is an issue James says every restaurant and bar in Hull is facing currently.

“Everyone I know in the industry is having real issues with staffing,” he says.

“We all expected that, when we came out of this, we would be in an employers’ market. We thought there were going to be loads of people who had been laid off and, once they could get back to work, they’d all be screaming for jobs.

“In fact, what’s happened is that people have found a different job during lockdown and they’ve decided to stay in that, rather than come back to the hospitality industry.

“The longer it has gone on, the more people have thought ‘I can’t just wait to go back to hospitality when it reopens, I need to do something else’.

“As a result, every single restaurant in the city is hiring, including us.”

On a more positive note, the restaurant is “rammed solid” with bookings for the next four weeks, as diners embrace the opportunity enjoy a meal out once again.

“We have 70 booked in for Friday night, 85 for Saturday and nearly 100 for Sunday, so that’s absolutely brilliant news,” says James.

“We’ve made the decision to only open at the weekends. One thing we did learn from the first reopening was that it was really, really busy for the first four weeks but then everybody got it out of their system and realised they didn’t have all that much money.

“We are still being as careful as we can be and have measures in place to make sure people feel safe and confident in the building. That’s key for us – we don’t want people feeling nervous, we want them to be happy to be in.”

Hopefully, those customers will be feeling happy to be in for the foreseeable future this time.