THE owner of a landmark Glasgow restaurant has expressed his happiness that he has managed to retain all of his staff, and declared it “feels like waking up from a bad dream”, as he prepares to reopen next month.
Marco Giannasi, who owns and runs the Battlefield Rest on the south side of Glasgow with his wife Yellena, described as “fantastic news” the bistro’s plans to reopen on April 26. He noted the restaurant would have an outdoor licence for alcoholic drinks from 11am to 10pm when it reopens. It would, he added, be open from 11am until 8pm indoors, with no licence at this stage, in line with Scottish Government coronavirus restrictions.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Brexit could have taken many forms. Cheshire Cat Boris Johnson chose this one
The veteran restaurateur tweeted: “It feels like waking up from a bad dream, the good news is that we managed to maintain all our staff and we are reopening on the 26th of April! From all of us at the “Rest” – hope to see you soon.”
The Battlefield Rest, which employs 16 people and has used the UK Government coronavirus job retention scheme to retain staff, has been offering a takeaway service at weekends amid the latest lockdown.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Reaction to Sturgeon revelations strikingly positive: Opinion
Mr Giannasi, who opened the restaurant in the B-listed former tram station building, revealed last month that he was embarking on restoration works costing more than £100,000, while hoping to realise his dream of installing a recreated 1920s carriage next to the bistro.
He highlighted the fact that he had been forced by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic to use up reserve capital that had before the crisis struck been earmarked for the restoration works.
Mr Giannasi last month expressed relief that he had, amid the latest lockdown, become eligible for a one-off Scottish Government grant of £25,000, having struggled previously to obtain sufficient support because of rateable value considerations.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel