A POPULAR family-run Barrow restaurant, which was forced to close six months after it opened due to lockdown, is looking to expand its service – and is looking forward to a bright future.

Barrow Fiesta, in Cavendish Street, opened in August 2019, but six months into trading, the Covid pandemic forced it to close.

Since reopening, owners Ana and Martin Brun have run the business with their three children and have served a variety of dishes from The Philippines, Italy, China, Mexico, Japan, and India.

Ana said: "It was me and my husband who took over the place back in 2019, it was very challenging at first due to the pandemic.

"It was unfortunate that six months down the line we had to close as the pandemic came in.

"Having recently opened before having to shut was a surprise which ended up with us being lockdown for most of the year.

"While we originally started with a buffet but due to the pandemic it wasn't safe for people to gather so close at the buffet, so instead we began switching to table service.

"That proved to be the best way forward.

"As time went on, we become more flexible with things and learned to adapt as the pandemic went on.

"Thankfully we had started our takeaway service before we went into lockdown so we were able to carry that on into the period we were closed. It really helped us with the restaurant being closed.

"My husband is a chef, and we have some people helping us run the restaurant. We have two chefs; a few members of staff and our kids are helping us out as well.

"With all of us being here it really makes it a family run business.

"We have two who are in university and one who has just come back after her bachelor’s degree.

"Me and Martin have worked before in both food and hospitality. Martin was the head chef at Francesca’s Italian, and I was the manager at the Hotel Imperial.

"We are looking to expand in the future. We look forward to what comes next. Our aims at the moment are to gather more staff, expand our menu to include more dishes and build on what we have already.

"There is a space above us which we hope to offer out to private parties, it can hold between 30 to 40 people. We would have done it earlier if the omicron variant had not appeared.

"We are looking forward to inviting people for christenings, birthday parties and social gatherings in the future."