A KENDAL cafe owner has spoken of the ways in which his business has strived to remain current after the high street was rocked by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Brad Muir, 51, owns the Brew Brothers cafe on Highgate, having taken over the business late last year - just a matter of months before the biggest public health crisis in a century forced high street traders to close (in some cases, for good).

Mr Muir - who is from Johannesburg and moved to Kendal several years ago - employs 11 full-time staff and a number of more casual student workers at his independent 'shabby chic' coffee house.

Aside from installing a one-way system through the cafe's kitchen and ensuring regular staff temperature checks among other precautionary measures, he said it was necessary to remove two tables from the establishment in order to comply with social distancing rules.

"It doesn't sound like much, but this equates to 10 per cent of our capacity that we had to lose," Mr Muir explained.

Lockdown did bring some benefits to the business, however, despite the number of cutbacks it also made necessary.

Mr Muir says he took advantage of the early days of lockdown to carry out interior redecoration work and a new paint job.

Like many cafes, bars and restaurants across the country, he tentatively began a takeaway service in May before reopening fully with new Covid-tailored measures in place by July 4.

"As was the case for many places during those weeks, we weren't making enough to pay all our bills.

"But importantly it did help us pay some of our part-time workers, as all our [full-time] staff were furloughed.

"So opening for takeaways during these months did allow two students to continue working and receive a salary.

"It was also important to remind people that we were still there - that we'd stayed current, stayed available - as people perhaps began to suspect or assume that certain businesses in the town wouldn't be reopening.

"We've maybe gained some new customers, or new 'regulars', if you like, during these weeks too, which has been great."

However, not all the initiatives introduced by Number 10 to encourage consumer activity have been beneficial for the cafe, in Mr Muir's eyes.

Of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, he said: "It has certainly brought us increased footfall. But has it been beneficial? I'm on the fence, as costs have also had to go up in order to accommodate the greater demand.

"A lot of food has been thrown away, and some people have 'abused' the scheme by over-ordering, which leads to a lot of waste.

"We've had a lot of wastage this month, which has been sad to see. And on top of that, not all customers have understood that social distancing extends beyond the restaurant space - which obviously slows down service considerably.

"At end of day, if we've gained some extra customers, then that's no bad thing of course. But it hasn't helped us dramatically.

"If the Government extends the scheme, we may opt out of it."

Mr Muir also said that the cafe expects to bring in some form of automated table service system in the coming months to help make the ordering process smoother.

He added that Brew Brothers is now taking part in the Uber Eats system to ensure their service is also available to 'folks who for a number of reasons might not be able to venture out just yet'.