A YORK restaurant that has yet to reopen after lockdown has applied to have an outdoor seating area.

Panda Mami opened its restaurant in Bridge Street beside the River Ouse back in 2018 and closed with the rest of the nations restaurants and cafes as part of the nationwide Coronavirus lockdown earlier in the year, failing to reopen when allowed to by the Government on July 4.

Now a sign in their window says that they have applied to City of York Council for permission earlier in the month to have a seating area for food and drink outside the premises.

The application went in on September 9 and is currently being processed.

Owner, Lulu Kong, said she plans to reopen the restaurant on October 5 and include takeaways.


She said hopes to have room for between ten and 15 small tables outside.
Panda Mami also has a sister restaurant in Chester which successfully reopened in August.


She said: "We reopened our Chester restaurant last month and that has been going extremely well. 


"We are keen to reopen in York, but our customers come first and we have to make sure we are ready."


She said that before the pandemic the restaurant served between one and two thousand customers a week and she hopes that they will still be able to accommodate about 70 per cent of that.


Two big differences customers will see when they do reopen next month is a laser temperature check at the door and a sanitizer spraying device that customers will walk through like a gate at airport security.


She said: "Our position right by the river is ideal for outside dining and the tables and chairs should take up about half the six metre space out there."