Sutton Harbour comes back to life as eateries reopen

Cap’n Jaspers

The famous Cap’n Jaspers is one of Plymouth’s most loved eateries and has been open since the beginning of June with social distancing measures in place. The popular alfresco café and takeaway has fenced off its seating area, opened the end shutters and put up screens to ensure the safety of customers and staff.

Cap’n Jaspers has been part of the harbour since the late 1970s. Cap’n John Dudley built the original hut in 1978 to help raise money for charity as The Barbican Regatta, and it grew in popularity. After a re-build and a little relocation, the eatery that we know and love today added the outside eating area in the late 1990s for customers to enjoy their food with a spectacular view of the Harbour.

The Good Times Bar and Kitchen

The Good Times Bar and Kitchen is new to Sutton Harbour and celebrated its opening night on Valentine’s Day, five weeks before lockdown.

Co-owner Craig White, welcomes the news that restaurants can reopen from early July and believes people are ready to get back into restaurants and pubs as long as there’s social distancing measures and regular cleaning in place.

Craig owns the restaurant with his business partner Darren Totscott, and they have been running Sunday roasts takeaways with the help of their partners Karen and Jodie and a selection of volunteers, while their staff are on furlough.

“We had a great response from our takeaway roasts with up to 150 orders every week and had a lot of repeat customers, I think as there’s a lot of elderly and single people so it’s helped them.”

The restaurant has started to open its front windows offering takeaway food and drink including ice creams, pasties, hotdogs, salad boxes, vegan boxes, gin and beer. It plans to fully reopen to the public from July 5, offering a reduced menu and changing its opening times to 10am-10pm.

Craig said: “We are trying to support other small businesses by buying our produce locally, rather than going to larger wholesalers, so that they can also keep their business ticking over during this time.

“We expect custom will be low to start with. Reducing the menu and opening times will help us to reduce food waste and we are hoping to get back to normal as the weeks go on.”