A city centre pub landlord is hoping to turn its car park into a beer garden with private barbecues.
Adrian Joyce, landlord at The Temple Bar on Unthank Road, has submitted plans for the outdoor space to Norwich City Council.
If approved, the car park, which is 571m sq and fits up to nine cars, would transform into a beer garden with room to accommodate up to 100 customers.
It would feature decking and a pagoda in the middle for shelter in bad weather.
The plans also include two rentable BBQ spaces, which Mr Joyce said had been designed for city-dwellers with no gardens.
He said: “If you live in a flat and don’t have a garden, this would be really appealing. The two spaces would be available to rent to small groups and our chef will cook on the barbecue. It’s still early days, and we haven’t decided on a menu, but there would be no repeat sittings so groups would have it for the entire evening.
“We also hope that the barbecue would then turn into a fire pit for later on.”
While the pub currently has seven tables outside, the decision to submit the plans for the revamped beer garden came as a direct response to coronavirus.
Mr Joyce said: “We only have seven tables now inside and we used to have 13 due to social distancing. We do a Sunday lunch and before the pandemic we did walk ins and 150 roasts on average. Now, we only take bookings and last week we served 90 lunches.
“Being safe, which is an absolute priority for us, has heavily impacted on the numbers in the dining area. We needed to think outside of the box and adapt to the situation, while increasing the number of customers we can serve safely.”
“If the plans go ahead, it will double the number of people we are able to serve outside. It is a way of making ourselves commercially viable, as well as cleaning up the car park and making the area more attractive.”
Mr Joyce said the pub garden would also stop people using the car park as a cut through to Grapes Hill.
He added: “I live above the pub with my wife and three children. My kids have been trained not to go across the car park without looking as people frequently drive across it. The pub garden will put a stop to that.”
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