Paulo Pinto is the new manager at the West park Hotel in Harrogate and has been making the hotel ready for outdoor hospitality over the past few weeks.
He has been in the position since January, but has been with the company 5-years.
Paulo Pinto:
I started out at the Punch Bowel as General Manager and they then asked me to run the Carpenters Arms at Felixkirk.
My background started, like many polishing cutlery and plates, I was a restaurant manager for 10-years at Rudding Park, but decided to move on to new things.
This is a big challenge for me with double the number of rooms from where I was, and from a village to a town setting. It’s the biggest site in the group.
It’s great to be back working in Harrogate again, rather than having all that travel to Felixkirk each day.
The business has now expanded further with more outdoor dining tables, and a redevelopment of the outdoor space.
Paulo said:
We have bought the feel of the indoor restaurant outside, with our indoor tables and chairs outside along with the full À la carte menu and light lunch menu – we wanted it to have a feel of like eating indoors.
We have seen a big demand for tables, around double of what we would expect this time of year, we have taken cleaning staff off furlough to help with the table service. We have booked a lot of tables, but we will do our best to accommodate walk-ins.
In line with the rules, the bar and restaurant area inside is not open, and we have created a one-way system through the courtyard area to help with distancing.
