Bourne's only Italian restaurant, Il Mulino, closes for refit to meet high demand

High demand from diners has persuaded a new Bourne restaurant to close for a month so it can expand its kitchen.

Il Mulino opened for business in March as a takeaway service only, and planned to take restaurant bookings in June when the easing of lockdown restrictions allowed.

However, the takeaway service has been suspended until June 16 when the North Street eatery plans to open the restaurant in full.

"It was a surprise to be honest, " said co-owner Anna Juliano.

"The first month was so busy we realised our kitchen would be too small for taking bookings to sit in as well so we thought this is the best time to close before we reopen for sitting in.

"We just want to do everything properly."

Il Mulino will be Bourne's only Italian restaurant and is a joint venture between Anna and husband Franco with Altino and Alda Nazeraj who own restaurants in Grantham and Sleaford respectively.

The volume of demand for their takeaway pizzas and pasta has persuaded them to expand seating capacity from 53 to 60.

"Our takeaway opens at 5pm, but we had so many orders by then we had been selling out of pizza dough, so after 5 o'clock no-one could order pizza," Anna added.

"Some people were saying they had to wait three weeks to try our pizza!

"We need a bigger space to put more fridges and freezers because when we open we will have our full menu with steak, fish and seafood as well so need more room for storage."