Star Anise Café in Stroud will reopen on Thursday after a staff member tested positive for coronavirus.

The café was forced to close on June 24 while staff isolated, meaning its coffee and popular vegetarian menu was unavailable for two weeks.

With enough people to open safely three days a week, Star Anise will welcome customers back from 8:30am tomorrow.

“It feels good, it’s very exciting to welcome all the customers, all the regulars and new ones. Having them back will be really nice,” said chef Jude Lee-Allan.

“It’s getting back to what we do best.”

Stroud News and Journal:

In preparation, he and his team have been busy baking baguettes, getting sourdough ready and booking some croissants made by from Fat Toni’s.

Mr Lee-Allan said the closure impacted staff moral, particularly his father and Star Anise owner, Nicholas Allen.

“More than one member of staff had to isolate and because we have a reduced team at the moment anyway, with people going to university, it had a knock on effect which meant we didn’t have enough staff to open safely which was a shame.”

“It’s not been nice for Dad having it closed, he’s been rearing to get it going again.”

For the next two weeks, he said opening hours will be 8:30am - 3pm, Thursday to Saturday but customers should keep an eye on their social media account for any updates.

“It’s going to be struggle but we’re all working together and we hope that we can continue to provide a good dining a coffee experience”

In the seven days ending July 1, Stroud recorded 187 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people. In the week ending June 1, there were just 8 – a 2,200 per cent increase.