Owners of Galley Bistro make emotional decision to close

As reported in the Dorset Echo, Glyn and Beth Worthington have made the ‘really hard’ decision to close the doors to the Galley Bistro in Hope Square for the last time on Sunday, October 1.

The decision was not an easy one to make and they are both ‘incredibly sad,’ but they made the tough decision in order to be able to spend more time with their family and concentrate on the delivery side of the business.

Beth and Glyn Worthington, owners of the Galley Bistro (Image: Beth and Glyn Worthington)

Beth said: “We are both incredibly sad – more for the relationships really. The staff have been absolutely wonderful.

"I hated the fact that I had to make people redundant and let them go but they have been absolutely fabulous and so supportive.

“We are at a stage of our lives where we have two children. The restaurant trade is a full on, immersive way of life and Glyn and I are ready to scale back and do something different.

“It will be hard, but I think we are certain that the timing is right.”

The Galley Bistro (Image: Hollie Carr)

The husband-and-wife duo have been met with floods of positivity by customers and locals who will be sad to see the restaurant go.

Beth said: “We have had some lovely comments and people have just popped in over the last few days just to have a look around and to say cheerio. We have also got quite a lot of people who are coming in this weekend.”

She explained that one of the hardest things she had to do was phone customers and cancel their upcoming Christmas bookings and her manager kindly took over.

The feedback has left the restaurant owners ‘absolutely overwhelmed,’ with Beth adding, ‘I knew we had a lot of lovely customers, but I was really surprised.’

She joked: “This is like our first child. The other two came along afterward but this is our first baby.”

The Galley Bistro (Image: Hollie Carr)

Looking back over the last two decades, Beth explained ‘there’s been so many good memories,’ and ‘the most important thing is the relationships we built with the customers and the staff – it has been a brilliant time.’

However, the pair are moving on to a new business venture and will be focusing on delivering carveries across Weymouth and Portland on Sundays – and if all goes well, Beth suggested they may branch out to Friday and Saturday food deliveries as well.

The restaurant owner added: “We have been doing our carvery deliveries for a few years now. We love doing it and we are excited to have the opportunity to expand on that a bit which we don’t have that opportunity here because we are so busy looking after the customers in house - It’s just trying to get a better balance.

“On a Sunday we deliver full on roast dinners around Weymouth and Portland. We offer a selection of our starters, a selection of desserts and a meat, vegetarian and child’s portion which has been really popular.

“We are excited. It’s a bit scary because this is what we have known for the last 20 years. We are excited to do something a little bit different although still related and see if we could make it work.”

The Galley Bistro (Image: Hollie Carr)

Glyn and Beth took over the Galley Bistro following years of working in pubs.

Beth said: “Glynn and I have both worked in pubs and we were friends with the chap that had this before and it went from there really. The opportunity for this place came up and we just decided this was a good idea.

“Like everything we have the tough time and 95 per cent of the time I love my job.

“We have loved it and it was a really hard decision to make – I just want to thank all of our customers and staff for their support.”

The leasehold to the bistro is listed for sale for £95,000 on property website Zoopla.