09/09/2026
🌙 EVENINGS AT OLIVERS — A LITTLE LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES 🍷
We thought we’d explain a little bit about our evening service and why sometimes things might not be quite as they seem from the outside.
Because we’re not town-centre based, we don’t get much passing footfall, especially in the evenings. Most of our evening customers book a table with us rather than just walking past and deciding to come in.
So if you drive past one evening and we’re closed when you thought we were supposed to be open, don’t worry — we haven’t closed down! 😂
Quite simply, if we have no bookings, sometimes it isn't cost-effective for us to open. With the rising costs of running a small business, and many people having less disposable income, we have to be sensible about when we open.
But when we do have bookings, this is what an evening at Olivers looks like…
We open at 5.30pm and I’m normally there around 5.20pm. I've usually already set up the dining room, but in the evening the tables are dressed a little differently because we're BYO, with w**e glasses, knives and forks ready for your meal. 🍷🍽️
While I've been at home in the afternoon walking the dogs and checking on all the animals, Oliver has been busy in the kitchen, prepping for the evening service.
Then the three of us get into our evening roles.
Oliver is in the kitchen, cooking every order and making sure everything is something we're proud to serve.
I'm out front, looking after the tables, taking orders, serving food and drinks, clearing tables and making sure everyone is looked after.
And Kev is behind the scenes, quietly keeping everything moving. He’s washing up, keeping the kitchen stocked with clean plates, pans and equipment and making sure Oliver has what he needs when he needs it, we couldn’t do an evening service without him.
Because there are only three of us, we stagger our bookings. It helps us keep everything manageable and means we can give everyone the service we want to give them.
Our evening timings are:
🕠 Wednesday & Thursday
Last table booking 7.30pm
Service finishes at 9.30pm
🕠 Friday & Saturday
Last table booking 8.30pm
Service finishes at 10.30pm
If we don't have a later booking, we generally close two hours after the last booked table.
Our BYO is there to enjoy alongside your meal, and we generally allow around two hours for a table of four or more, and a little less for a table of two.
We aren't trying to rush anyone. We want you to sit back, enjoy your food, enjoy your w**e and have a lovely evening with us. ❤️
But by the end of service, we've usually been at Olivers all day. We love what we do and we love seeing people enjoying themselves, but we're human too and eventually we'd quite like to get home! 😂
And if you're not ready for the night to end, we're lucky enough to have The Victoria just at the end of the road — a great local pub where you can carry on your evening. 🍻
That's the reality of evenings at our little independent bistro.
We're not a big restaurant with a large team and a constant stream of customers. We're just Olivers, doing our best to keep going, keep cooking good food and give everyone who walks through our door a lovely experience.
And honestly, we're incredibly grateful to everyone who continues to choose us. ❤️
Thank you for supporting our little bistro.
Angela & Oliver x
