The landlord of Croxton Kerrial's The Geese & Fountain is 'very pleased' with the award-winning pub's reopening on Super Saturday.

And even although trade is down by about half and the popular business isn't breaking even yet, Nick Holden and partner Kate Ahrens are 'building up slowly' and looking forward to a positive future.

Nick told Grantham Nub News: "We were very pleased with our re-opening weekend.

"We've added lots of new tables and deck chairs in the garden and customers seemed to find the outdoor areas very welcoming.

"We've stuck to two metres between all tables, because we'd rather do that than move to one metre and need to introduce other mitigations like screens between tables or asking customers to wear masks.

"We want it to still feel 'natural' and the safest way to do that is to maintain two metres distancing.

"Everyone has followed the rules and guidance.

"We'd made a lot of changes, even moving the ladies toilet so that we could ensure that customers and staff don't have to share the same facilities.

"There is now a one-way system and only seven tables inside instead of 16.

"All drinks orders are taken at tables.

"Customers have most definitely done their bit in cooperating with our new ways of working, and we're very grateful for that.

"With everyone playing their part, we can help make sure everyone stays safe."

The pub with rooms has just been awarded AA 'Covid Confident' accreditation which assures customers it has in place the necessary risk assessments, safety measures and staff training, in line with Government and UKHospitality's published guidelines, to reopen safely.

"We've got extra staff on every shift so that we can do table service, but that means we're not exactly breaking even at the moment, especially when you consider that trade is down by about half - and on the B&B side even worse than that - but we're trying to take a longer view, and we're building up slowly.

"We're aiming to bring all our staff back from furlough over the course of the next month or so, but we're entirely dependent on customers - if people come to eat and drink then we can pay our staff.

"But if the customers don't come, then there's no work and no money to pay them.

"So we're grateful for the job retention and job creation initiatives that the Chancellor is implementing, but it all relies on people feeling confident enough to come out to visit pubs again.

"We hope that the measures we've put in place will give them that confidence - and we do believe that eating or drinking at The Geese & Fountain is as safe as it can possibly be."

For those who are still shielding, or don't feel like venturing out to a pub just yet, The Geese & Fountain is re-starting its take-away services - including the vegetable boxes, household essential shopping items and pizzas.

The Sunday roast collection and delivery service is also continuing.

"They proved very popular during lockdown and many of our customers asked us to continue with them so we will, at least for the next few months," added Nick.