BEAR Northwich has celebrated one week since its re-opening, but it stresses that the road ahead is still long.

BEAR, a coffee house, kitchen and bar, operates five stores across three counties - with its Northwich site situated in Barons Quay.

Whilst still a start-up, it has quickly grown into a leading coffee brand but the Covid-19 pandemic put its plans on hold.

Alongside coffee, BEAR launched a new menu on re-opening, which customers received well.

Co-founder Craig Bunting said: "We are humbled to be open and trading again, making it to this point has been extremely challenging.

"May 17 seemed to be the 'light' at the end of the tunnel, but it's obvious we are not quite there yet.

"Sales have been strong during this week, with certain stores performing much stronger than others depending on locality.

"Communities were extremely keen to get back through our doors and experience genuine hospitality once again.

"Our teams have worked hard to ensure that our re-opening was successful, our products and service were on point and that we had a great mix of the familiar, whilst also showing our customers that we've only just begun!

"The frustrating part is that labour takes a considerable impact with so many more processes to follow to ensure we operate to the very high (higher than non-essential retail) regulations.

"The above, alongside our reduced capacity due to social distancing, does minimise the potential for a quicker recovery by reducing profitability.”

During the pandemic, businesses have had react quickly and BEAR has focused its efforts on building its brand nationally, with its 100 per cent compostable coffee pods launching in the summer.