A LANDMARK city restaurant has finally reopened six months after being devastated by huge floods and the coronavirus.

The Old Rectifying House in Worcester opened its doors for the first time in 190 days yesterday after battling not only horrific flooding in February but the coronavirus lockdown just weeks later.

Owner Matt Denwood said it was very emotional re-opening the restaurant after such a long time.

“It’s been a very long period of time for somebody to not do their job,” he said. “It’s been difficult and we’re just really relieved."

Mr Denwood had worked tirelessly with manager Ali Crane and head chef Simon Rallings for three months to get the restaurant back up to scratch and completely rebuild the badly damaged kitchen and toilets.

“There’s a relief that we no longer have to do jobs that we are not well-designed for anymore but we’re very happy,” he said.

“It was very emotional opening the doors for the first time but the restaurant does look radically different so it’s very invigorating from that point of view.

“I can only really just thank everyone that has helped us this year. There are a lot of people who have helped and stood by us over the period we have been closed.”

And if having to deal with huge floods devastating your restaurant was not enough, the battle was made twice as hard for Mr Denwood and the rest of his staff with the industry effectively shutting down because of the lockdown.

“The flood was obviously difficult in itself but the water stayed in for a very long time,” he said.

“The water was very high for three weeks or so and then getting people in to do any kind of work was difficult because of Covid. It all kind of elongated and stretched out really.

“The flooding damage was worse than 2007 and it was by far the worst we have ever had here.

“It was a metre deep in the whole of the downstairs and because the water remained in the building for so long it pretty much ruined everything. It was all pretty much wiped out so the refurbishment has been extensive.”

“The kitchen and bathrooms have been completely rebuilt as has the bar. We’ve had new doors. It’s been a bad one, put it that way.”

Despite being closed for a long time, the restaurant which sits next to the River Severn, has not lost any of its popularity taking hundreds of bookings in just a few hours.

Mr Denwood said that, despite having to close for three months longer than most of the city’s restaurants and bars, the lockdown has not affected the Old Rec as much as others but called the furlough scheme a “lifesaver” for his restaurant.

He said the size of the building had actually worked in his favour for adhering to government guidelines and as a result did not have to lose any tables like other restaurants.

“Covid hasn’t affected us as much as other people yet to be honest,” he added.

“If there was a silver lining in this cloud it’s that all my friends and colleagues that run bars and restaurants in Worcester, I was able to have a look at how they have been doing things.

“We were able to furlough everyone and that was a lifesaver from our point of view.

“In terms of going forward, we are pretty well placed really. The building is big and we have never rammed the tables in anyway so even when we did our usual layout for tables we were still within government guidelines.

“There are people in much worse positions than us who have had to halve the number of tables whereas really we haven’t lost any.”

“It hasn’t affected us a huge amount yet other than we just don’t know what the market is going to be like but none of us really know that.”