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Taste of the past ready to be served at historic Inverness venue


By Ian Duncan

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Kerry-Anne Dearie and bar and cellar manager Michael Farry at the Rose Street Foundry. Picture: James Mackenzie.
Kerry-Anne Dearie and bar and cellar manager Michael Farry at the Rose Street Foundry. Picture: James Mackenzie.

Customers have praised a new city bar and restaurant which has reopened after launching less than a week before lockdown.

Rose Street Foundry opened in a renovated iron foundry after a multimillion-pound investment to refurbish the historic site on Inverness’s Academy Street.

The Category B listed building, built between 1893 and 1895, was left unoccupied until being acquired by Cairngorm Taverns.

With assistance from Inverness Townscape Heritage Project, the foundry was finally ready to open in March after being sympathetically restored, with décor paying tribute to its industrial past.

Cairngorm Brewery was behind the venture and managing director Sam Faircliff said having to close so soon had been disappointing, but they were glad to be able to get back to business.

Ms Faircliff said: “We have reorganised the furniture and allowed for social distancing with a one-way system to keep customers and staff as safe as possible.

“We have received great comments from customers who have popped in for a drink that they feel safe and appreciate the efforts we have made in this regard.

“Hopefully when we are able to provide food in addition to table service for drinks, we will encourage more people to come back.”

Rose Street Foundry started to offer a takeaway service from May and, after initially opening as a pop-up shop last month and then for drinks from last Wednesday, August 5, Ms Faircliff hopes the restaurant will start serving food again from today.

She said the menu was still being finalised as recently as Monday, with the restaurant set to operate at a reduced capacity due to social distancing guidelines.

Ms Faircliff added: “We were open for six-and-a-half days before lockdown. This was devastating as we were unable to furlough staff as the majority of them started after March 2.

“I think we all have to be cautious and ensure that we are following strict cleaning regimes to ensure our customers and staff feel safe. We have a booking system in place which includes a track and trace facility.

“Hopefully if folk follow the Scottish Government guidelines and cases of Covid-19 don’t increase, then we should do as well as we can with the much reduced capacity.”

More Inverness news here.


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