A restaurant forced to close just after it first opened its doors in March has gone down a storm with diners after its post-lockdown comeback.

The Palm Brasserie, based in Deane near Overton, was opened by the Meah family just before lockdown restrictions were imposed across the UK, leaving their new restaurant unable to host the customers it was built for.

Instead, it carried over its launch over until after restrictions were eased; the restaurant launching in a situation it could never have anticipated. Customers have since lauded the restaurant for its “outstanding” food, and “Great work on keeping diners at a safe distance from each other.”

Fahim Meah, owner of the Palm Group of restaurants, said: “I am so proud of the Palm Brasserie team for coming back from lockdown and totally smashing our new opening. We had worked so hard to get the new restaurant open and then the lockdown hit. We were bitterly disappointed but we used the time to reset and get ready for the day our doors would open again.

“Since reopening we have seen an influx of bookings and this has been boosted further by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. Our summer menu has received amazing reviews and our chefs are busy working on a new menu for the Autumn. We can’t wait to keep surprising and delighting our guests with our ever changing seasonal dishes.”

The Palm Brasserie is based in the former Deane Gate Inn, the redevelopment of which was approved back in 2015 after falling into “major disrepair.”

The building was originally a regular stop on coach journeys from Andover to London and has a recorded historical association with Jane Austen, whose family lived in nearby Steventon. The author and other members of her family are thought to have caught the stagecoaches which stopped here.