A lauded Michelin-starred restaurant will no longer serve up meals on Tuesdays as its owners are expecting a baby.

Fordwich Arms owners Dan and Natasha Smith, both 30, have revealed they are due to have their second child in August.

And in a bid to manage their workloads ahead of the birth, the married pair have scaled back the acclaimed Canterbury pub’s opening times to five days a week.

Staff have already started contacting customers to rearrange bookings, with the changes expected to remain in place for “the foreseeable future”.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision – it’s never difficult with families,” head chef Dan explained.

“It’s incredibly important for us, but we also want to maintain standards. It will streamline everything and enable us to focus on quality.

“It will be open Wednesdays through to Sundays.

“For weekends, people are booking up until Christmas, but customers will be able to rearrange for dates close to those they originally wanted. We always have availability.

“It’ll be for the foreseeable, I’d say. We’d probably reopen on Tuesdays sometime after the baby’s born.”

However, Mr Smith did not know how many bookings had been rearranged due to the changes.

The couple, who already have a two-year-old son, also run upmarket village inn The Bridge Arms, which has long been running from Wednesday to Sunday each week.

This comes as the couple prepare for the unveiling of an extended seating area at the Fordwich Arms.

Work to extend the restaurant’s terraced dining area to allow it to accommodate as many as 60 people at a time has been ongoing for the last two months.

“But we’re not going to expand the covers that we have at any one time at the restaurant – it just means everyone will be able to sit outside for longer,” Dan added.

“It will be a more leisurely experience.

“There’ll be no rush for people and they’ll be able to sit out there all day.”

The husband-and-wife restaurateurs took on the Fordwich Arms five years ago and secured a Michelin star within 10 months.

The historic pub on the outskirts of Canterbury had previously been run by town stalwarts Sue and Shaun Donnelly who retired after 24 years in November 2017.

Three months ago, The Bridge Arms also scooped a Michelin star, less than year after it was taken over by the Smiths.