County's restaurants already feeling festive.

Every year Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier – and this year it feels like it has already begun.

Pubs and restaurants throughout Lincoln have started promoting and advertising their Christmas menus.

And the fact optimistic businesses are already preparing for the Christmas season comes despite the clobbering the economy has taken in the credit crunch.

Alan Ritson, owner of The Old Bakery in Burton Road, says his restaurant has actually seen an economic upturn in the past 12 months.

He said: “Loads of other people have been saying to me it’s been difficult through the downturn, but we’ve never been busier.

“On a regular day, we usually have a three or four-week waiting list.

“But for Christmas, we end up taking bookings up to a year in advance.

“We put the menu on the website in January and when it gets round to July and August, we’re already half full.

“We’ve been building a reputation over the past five years and each year is better than the last.

“We’ve never had to advertise, because we receive a lot of repeat business. People keep wanting to come back.”

The award-winning restaurant currently holds two AA rosettes, has received a Toptable Gold Award for two years in a row and is to be featured in The Good Food Guide 2010.

Mr Ritson believes restaurants such as his are thriving because people want to go somewhere nice for a special occasion.

He said: “Instead of going out regularly on a whim, people are going out once a month or every couple of months to celebrate these occasions. Seeing as they go out less often, people want to go to somewhere nicer, where they know they’ll get top-quality service.”

This confidence in the face of the recession is shared with many other restaurants throughout the city.

Paul Adams, supervisor at the Royal William IV, said they have not even started to worry about the Christmas period yet.

He said: “We’re confident we’re going to be fine considering this so-called recession. Every year we’re apprehensive and have the same doubts and questions.

“But we’ve always been successful and we’ve always been popular.

“I think we just need to be brave and optimistic.

“We’ll end up fully booked.

“But there’s no point in rushing these kinds of things.

“As long as we’ve put together a menu people like, then we’ll be fine.”