THE OWNER of an award winning restaurant says his business will be relying on the support of the public to help it navigate through the coronavirus crisis.

Rob Ely admits he will be nervous when his Chophouse restaurant, in New Street, Braintree, is finally given the all clear reopen by the Government.

The eatery has been closed since March to slow the spread of coronavirus and like the entire hospitality industry is awaiting a possible reopening date.

Rob says all staff have kept their jobs but have been signed up to the furlough scheme which sees the Government cover 80 per cent of their wages.

But he has warned he could be forced to make redundancies in the future if business is slow when the lockdown restrictions are lifted.

He said: "They're talking about restaurants running at 50 per cent capacity which isn't going to work for a lot of businesses.

"We rely on Saturday nights when we are absolutely rammed and full.

"If we can't have those types of numbers inside then the business is going to take a massive hit.

"We'll be relying on the support of the public when we do reopen. What we really need is the the whole town to support us and come down to the restaurant.

"Things will probably be busy in the first week when we reopen because people will want to come back after all this time. But we need them to keep coming back in the weeks after.

"If business does start of slowly, then I do worry about having to make redundancies."

Mr Ely has used the lockdown to decorate his restaurant and launch a new takeaway service called Brit Dish.

The venture, which is run from the Chophouse, sees a different set menu offered to customers each night.

Customers are able to order then collect their meal at a specified time to ensure social distancing measures are followed.

Mr Ely added: "It's one of those things I've thought about doing but never really got round to doing.

"At the moment it is at least helping bring some money in. We've got the £10,000 grant from the Government but that barely covers the rent.

"We've still got bills to pay so having the takeaway service helps a little bit.

"There's been a good response so far but there's a long way to go with it.

"If it's a success, then hopefully it can be expanded and used for events like weddings."