Many attempts to get a confirmation about the future of Bill's have been unanswered, but the last statement Peterborough Matters received from a spokesperson said, in full: "I don't have an update to share at this stage unfortunately." That was shared on August 11, around 17 months since the venue was last open for custom in Peterborough.

The Church Street restaurant was not one of the branches to reopen on July 17 last year. At the time, the business said that it was only reopening half of its sites, with the Cambridge venue the closest to Peterborough to reopen.

It remained closed throughout the summer - despite most other dineries in the city welcoming back customers.

In October 2020, a poster appeared in the window of the Peterborough restaurant declaring that it would be reopening on October 30 and "looked forward" to welcoming people back, but when asked, a Bill's spokesperson said a date hadn't been confirmed.

The country returned to lockdown restrictions through the winter, meaning any plans to reopen were scuppered, but there has been no news since the grand reopening of the hospitality industry on and around April 12.

On July 16 of this year, a form to change the name of the designated premises supervisor on the restaurant's licence to serve alcohol and play music was submitted to the council.

This change was accepted and the new licence issued on August 8, but three days later a spokesperson told Peterborough Matters that there was no update to share.

Meanwhile, the post is piling up in the front entrance of Bills and the website proclaims that it is closed "in line with government guidelines". As a Peterborough favourite, hopefully some more clarity on the future of Bill's in the city will come soon - it's been a long wait so far.

Other venues that closed included Pret a Manger - now Costa - and Le Petit Four Francais, which closed immediately after the first lockdown began.