“We’re going to ease back slowly, bal­cony side first,”

That’s the plan at The Farmgate restaurant in Cork’s English Market, as the iconic lunch spot plots it’s reopening on the morning of Thursday, July 9th, 2020.

After almost four months of closure because of lockdown measures, the buzzing eatery, which has been serving hungry diners for 26 years, is taking a phased approach to welcoming customers, starting with breakfast, lunch and brunch served until 3.30pm.

Revealing the news on the Farmgate website, the team, led by Rebecca Harte, said:

“We’re glad to say we’re nearly there – just a few jobs left before we wel­come you back. We’ve missed the buzz of the Mar­ket as well as the fun and the struc­ture of a proper work­ing day. We’ll be back with our aprons and hand san­i­tiser on Thurs­day 9th July at 8:30am.”

“For the first week, it will be the open bal­cony (turn right at the top of the cen­tral stairs) for take-​out and table ser­vice: lovely lit­tle break­fast menu; tea & cof­fee; soup & sand­wiches; two daily sal­ads; and some of our deli­cious savoury dishes of old. Cakes of course. And wine if you want it!”

Far­m­gate Café is carefully adher­ing to HSE and Eng­lish Mar­ket guide­lines too: “We are com­ing back as a small team; we will ensure social dis­tanc­ing, and there will be a 1-​way sys­tem in and out of the café. Hand san­i­tiser will be avail­able, and the team will be fully prepped and trained before we get going.

 

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“Fur­ther­more, we will update all our train­ing and oper­a­tional mea­sures (weekly) as per HSE and gov­ern­ment announce­ments – so expect changes along the way.”

Here are the open­ing times for the first three weeks:

Week 1: Thurs­day 9th to Sat­ur­day 11th from 08:30 to 15:30 (or until it all runs out).

Table ser­vice on the Bal­cony – Take­away (din­ing room not open).

Week 2: Wednes­day 15th to Sat­ur­day 18th from 08:30 to 15:30 (or until it all runs out).

Table ser­vice on the Bal­cony – Take­away (din­ing room not open).

Week 3: Tues­day 21st – Sat­ur­day 25th from 08:30 to 15:30 (or until it all runs out).

Table ser­vice on the Bal­cony – Takeaway

Din­ing room – book­ings for lunch from Thurs­day 23rd, and thereafter.