DO you enjoy great food and are willing to be a guinea pig for an hour or two?

If so, The Wellington in Welwyn would like to hear from you.

With the restoration of the High Street pub and restaurant nearing completion – following a huge fire caused by an electrical fault last June – owner Chris Gerard wants to test out the new kitchen and restaurant facilities to make sure everything works smoothly.

This requires test diners to order and enjoy their meals in the usual way while things are fine-tuned behind the scenes.

Mr Gerard said: “If all goes to plan, as we hope, our test diners will find things the same as if the restaurant was already up and running. It won’t cost them anything except their time and whatever they choose to drink.”

Test diners will be among the very first to see what has been done inside the historic 14th century pub.

Mr Gerard’s managing partner, Liz Gouldie, said: “We feel confident that we’ve retained the charm and quirkiness of the Welly and that our regular customers will immediately feel at home again.

“Hopefully new customers will share this feeling too and enjoy the extra little touches we’ve added.”

The dates for the test sessions have yet to be finalised but will be during the week preceding May 16, the planned re-opening.

Anyone interested in being a tester is asked to visit The Wellington’s website at www.wellingtonatwelwyn.co.uk and become a “Friend of the Welly”.

Those invited to be testers will be chosen at random and contacted during April.