Refurbishment complete!! Wahay!!!! Open for business......

It's done!
Well when I say it's done. We're open. We have opened the doors on Howies Waterloo after our marathon 10 day turnaround.  Holy Tamole. It's been a heck of a strain - in the place til 3am this morning but tis done and the verve and va va voom the team put into it I could hug them all - but down wind after all that work you wouldn't want to get too close to me frankly.

From head Chef Stephen and his wingman Craig to Manageress Shereen, office manager Elaine, Luke our charming Kiwi waiter, operations manager Stephen, Kirsty,Tina, to Lloyd the 'absotluely is nothing is too much trouble' spark we are back in business at 29 Waterloo Place.  Bunting and a round of applause.

To be honest even my fingers are drooping as well as my brain so I shall let the photos do the talking. Here at last is the after.......yes tweaks are required but you get the gist!

All new chairs upholstered in different tartans, plaids and tweeds. Comfy upholstered banquettes, antique bits and bobs, paintings of Edinburgh done by our old pal Kelly Stewart. As you can see we have curtained the gallery area above - just to add that touch of drama and excitement! What will burst out of there? Well you will have to wait and see.

Colours are all to reflect Scotland - be it the heathery hills, the green lush landscape or the seasoned wood of the ancient Scots pine.
Here's the proof we managed to open for lunch today - it's the blackboard with todays specials! We love the new wall light which you can see on the left and of course more comfy seats for your bahooky!

 

The far end of the room used to have a feature wall of dark red splodgy wallpaper which was all a bit 1987 and needed lightening up so David Howie himself came up with the idea to mirror the size and shape of the beautiful Georgian windows at the other end, the bow end of the room. It looks wonderful! Well we think so. Sorry we don't mean to blow our own trumpet but we are very excited!

There are 100 other photos I could show you but you know it's probably best if you come and see for yourself. 

The main dining room, private dining room, hall, stair in fact everything has had a major face lift and after the last 10 days. I'll be next!

Thanks to our wonderful team - they worked endlessly, smiling and putting their lives on holds to get us where we are. We appreciate it beyond words.

CHEERS!

Don't Panic! Don't Panic!

D day has arrived. 24 hours a day we are working to get Howies Waterloo up and open again.

Friday May 24th we open come hell or high water or palpitations or extreme makeover stress bumps.

The kitchen is being rebuilt, the furniture is about to be unpacked from boxes. Curtains, blinds light fittings, ceilings, floors, walls, fireplaces, a new gantry, wine storage the whole place has undergone an extreme makeover. The dust is floating in a tornado around us. The industrial cleaners are raring to go. The whole team is in situ doing what we can and will be here until we open.......an all night vigil....

Closing to refurb for 10 days is the easy part. Reopening in a calm and controlled manner – well that is another thing altogether!

Photos will be posted later – like in the middle of the night – as we are on for a 24 hour  marathon.

EEEEK!!!

The transformation begins.......

You never think you’ll get attached to inanimate objects do you? But watching the guts being ripped out of our lovely  Georgian Howies Waterloo restaurant has made us realise otherwise. Even though the décor was tired and the chairs and tables dark and imposing it was with a teary eye we watched everything being shipped out.  Yup  End of an era. And the great redesign has begun. And without Kevin McCloud. 

Shutting a busy restaurant for 10 days to refurb is a clench to be honest.  Every minute we're closed costs money. But there is never a good time so we thought lets bite the bullet and get on with it. It needed it. And we wanted to show our commitment to bringing Howies back to where it was a few years ago. Lets be honest we love the bones of it. If it has bones. Heres a few photos to give you a taste of our dramatic days.....

Above a man squats on the bar and strips off the wallpaper - can you imagine how much lighter the room will be once this has gone. Goodbye feature wall hello lovely bow ended room and light. (The guy in the yellow t shirt is very fashion forward - yellow is the colour for this summer apparently). 

Like a man happy in his job. As long as he doesn't take a heider off the bar. 

This photo looks up towards the other end of the room - yes the scaffolding is in - the platoon of decorators are honed and ready. And whilst they work up high on the walls and cupola, down on the floor......well it's coming out completely and a lovely new one is going in soon.

Yup - it has the makings of a Laurel & Hardy slapstick special. Buckets, holes in the floor and planks of wood. 

                           Tired and emotional. Or did he see me without my make-up on?

Still, as you well know the main thing with a beautiful building such as this, are the proportions and features speak for themselves. So rather than gild the lily with fancy paint effects and dramatic eye watering wallpaper we have decided on a subtle palette of colours relevant to Scotland. Heathery, creams, tweed, plaid, chunky Scottish wood, mirror and light walls with the mix of our quirky wee bits and pieces that make sure Howies Waterloo looks like what it is a local restaurant not a roll out of a chain. Your local restaurant. 

Shutting a busy restaurant for 10 days to refurb is a clench to be honest.  Every minute we're closed costs money. But there is never a good time so we thought lets bite the bullet and get on with it. It needed it. And we wanted to show our commitment to bringing Howies back to where it was a few years ago. Lets be honest we love the bones of it. If it has bones. 

So I will update as the week progesses – and 23^rd May looms – it’s not long to do all the things schedule to be done.

So we have made a start but still to come floor ripped out, walls stripped, kitchen stripped, lovely new central heating put it, paint, paper, new upholstered chairs, tables, banquette seating, lighting. ITs very exciting and  we are absolutely sure it’s going to be a bobby dazzler….but you can see from todays photos ..GULP….we have a long way to go……and only one week to do it. 

Stars In Our Eyes & Our Restaurant.

So.....quietly getting on with it....as we  do...you know the sort of thing...bubbling up the Cullen Skink, chasing haggis and flopping up a banoffee or three ,  when suddenly KAPOW right there in our Victoria Street restaurant was the lovely Derren Brown.

Derren has just been in Edinburgh and played to a rather jaw dropping 18000 people over the course of the week. Did you say 18,000?  Yes I  did. I know! Wowza.

Derren was taking time out from his busy Edinburgh schedule which was playing The Edinburgh Playhouse - only the biggest theatre in Europe with 4500 seats - impressive and a tad stressful I would think. If it were me I would be in a dark room chatting and inhaling lavendar and doing calming things but Derren was out and about enjoying his time in Scotlands Capital. So from 4500 seats to a mere 40 he came in to see us and he was an absolute charmer as you can see here.

Mandy  our lovely smiling member of staff was apoplectic with joy as she had seen him on stage the night before and there he was larger and smilier in the flesh. She is clenched with happiness. Eventually she unclamped the poor man and let him get on with his day.

What a joy to see him and we wish him well for the rest of his tour and hope next time in town he's he'll be back to say hello!

Of course the Edinburgh film Festival is just round the corner too - so I wonder who'll be our next celebrity visitor?  Maybe you?

You can follow Derren on Twitter @DerrenBrown
You can follow us too on @HowiesScotland

Anyway must away today - Sunday 12th May we are closing Howies Waterloo Place for 10 days  for a complete overhaul..details to follow......Phew....it's ever dull round here......I will give full updates on how it's going and also give you details of any things that are looking for a good home -

Cheers!