The £50,000 loan will enable the Edinburgh seafood restaurant to cover business critical costs while it remains closed to diners during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Royal Mile restaurant has continued to serve local customers through its “Ondine At Home” delivery service. The home fine dining experience was recently launched in response to the lockdown with review support from Barclaycard in switching to online payment acceptance.

The Bounce Back Loan provides working capital to support the new service and cover costs such as supply chain expenses and wages for non-furloughed staff. In addition, Barclays has provided a six month capital repayment holiday on existing finance and a three month rental holiday on the restaurant’s Barclaycard payment terminals.

Since it opened in 2009, Ondine has established itself as one of Scotland’s leading restaurants. The 80 cover dining room led by chef-proprietor Roy Brett and his wife Karin was named Best Restaurant in Scotland for the second year running at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards in 2019 and regularly secures a place in The Sunday Times Top 100 Restaurants.

Karin Brett, co-owner of Ondine, said: “We have been supported exceptionally well by Barclays. Our relationship manager Richie Paul has been helping us every step of the way to get through these difficult times and get Ondine the financial help needed to keep the business in a positive position as we work through the COVID-19 lockdown.”

Stuart Brown, head of branch and business banking, Scotland at Barclays UK, added: “Ondine was one of the thousands of restaurants across the UK that had to effectively shut their doors overnight because of the lockdown. By moving quickly to get an at home service in place they have managed to secure an ongoing revenue stream and this Bounce Back Loan will provide additional essential financial support to meet business critical costs. Karin Brett engaged with us very early in the process and has worked closely with her Business Manager as the restaurant has transitioned through lockdown.”

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