Birmingham restaurant's cladding nightmare 'feels like another lockdown'

Natalja Bulgakva said many people thought the restaurant had closed

A waterfront restaurant says its takings have halved after it was shrouded in scaffolding for months for unsafe cladding to be removed.

Noel's Bar and Restaurant occupies a prime spot alongside the canal in Birmingham but continuing building work means many thought it had shut.

Bosses say they had no warning the scaffolding was going up, turning up to work one day to find it "encased".

Owner Jimmy Devollaj said it had felt like "another lockdown".

"But this time, a completely isolated lockdown that's just affected us," he said.

The removal of the cladding has left Noel's covered in scaffolding with just a sign on the side to show where they are

Some customers had been so put off by the ongoing work they had cancelled as soon as they walked through the door, general manager Natalja Bulgakva added.

The removal of cladding began in January 2022, years after the Grenfell Tower disaster when 72 people died in a fire which spread rapidly because its cladding contained a highly combustible material.

Ms Bulgakva said they had returned after a break for Christmas - when the rapid rise of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 had hugely affected hospitality - to find the restaurant "completely covered" in poles.

Since then, they claim they have been given almost no information about the work from their landlords and said their pleas for help from Birmingham City Council had fallen on deaf ears.

The restaurant, situated next to the city centre's Mailbox and Cube developments, has continued to pay rent and business rates despite customers dropping from about 300 a day to 120.

"When Covid hit us we had support from the government and we used that to support our business and employees.

"But this time around we have been thrown in the deep end with no support whatsoever," said Mr Devollaj.

Noel's Bar and Restaurant used to take 300 people on a busy day but now takes about 120

The dining area alongside the canal has been redundant and Ms Bulgakva said they regularly had to shut the large glass doors because of drilling and falling debris.

Noel's landlord Revelan Ltd said it was the intermediate landlord and did not manage the development, which is the role of chartered surveyors Pennycuick Collins.

The company is also in charge of overseeing the cladding work, but did not want to comment when contacted by the BBC.

Jimmy Devollaj said he had been given no help for his business to survive

Birmingham City Council also did not want to comment and construction company Hedson Group did not respond to questions from the BBC.

Ms Bulgakva said she and Mr Devollaj had been worried the work would not be complete in time for the Commonwealth Games, which starts in the city on Thursday, 28 July.

However, on Monday there were signs the scaffolding had started to come down.

"I have had friends calling me, telling me people have said Noel's is closed - this is the type of impression people have," Ms Bulgakva said.