As a dry January comes to an end, Salford independent restaurants continue to survive during the third national lockdown. 

January is usually the quietest time of the year for hospitality but many restaurants did better than expected.

Many of the eateries opened takeaways and delivery services in Autumn as Greater Manchester faced tougher restrictions than other parts of the country.

Jordan Pendlebury, assistant manager at Lime Bar said: “Christmas was very different this year, as it was for everybody! But we achieved our goals.

“It was a great month for takeaways. I think people spent on average more than they normally would on takeaway food, to make up for not dining out over the season.

“We had planned for a busy month, and so we were prepared with delivery drivers, chefs etc. Christmas probably went better than expected!

“January is always hit and miss. When we’re open, we rely on decent theatre shows, or football, to keep the custom coming. But being closed we don’t know how things will pan out.

“I think a lot of people usually find themselves ‘catching up after Christmas’, so we’re fully expecting we may be quiet, but we will have to wait and see.

“So far, we’re remaining as we previously were. Good quality food at reasonable prices. Its served us well for the last 9 months, and we hope for it to keep doing so!”

Ben Deakin, site manager at Vertigo Manchester said: “Christmas period was much worse than we expected, apart from the occasional nice day where people went for walks and wanted coffee overall it was pretty dire.

Vertigo Manchester is a vegan eatery that recently opened up a new website. Customers can order food products they would not normally buy in a traditional supermarket.

Deakin continued: “However we can’t have too much complaints as if people are following rules we can open earlier!

“First week of January was promising with Veganuary. However, the momentum has slightly dropped off now and business is struggling.

“We’ve implanted 20% off on all of our platforms to get the edge over competitors and also we go live with a sharing menu for £25 this weekend which should drive sales a bit more.”

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