Pub's the word

Big-name chefs are taking over the local. Tina Nielsen finds out why

Fifteen years on from the first of the new kind of "gastropubs"-the Eagle on London's Farringdon Road-celebrity chefs seem keen to grab a piece of this lucrative market. Turning their attention to country style casual dining, a new breed of posh publican has appeared in the UK's pubs.

Heston Blumenthal took over the Hind's Head Hotel in Bray in 2004. Marco Pierre White followed with Highclere's Yew Tree Inn the following year and last year Jean-Christophe Novelli set up shop at the White Horse in Harpenden.

Gordon Ramsay is the latest to arrive on the celebrity chef pub scene with the acquisition of two London pubs-the Narrow in Limehouse, which opened last month, and the Warrington in Maida Vale, which is due to open later this year after refurbishment.

Jay Rayner, author and restaurant critic for the Observer, sees a cynical reason for this trend. "If you run a fine dining restaurant, it costs a lot to eat there and people are only going to be able to afford to eat there once in a while. What chefs want to do is be able to feed more people more of the time and the pub is a good way of doing this. It is a way of putting forward an eating-out option that is much cheaper but doesn't have to be poor quality."

Chris Wood, managing director of toptable.co.uk, is less sceptical: "Of course they are looking to expand their brands," he says. "But these guys are all fans of real food and it must be refreshing to do something without the pressure of the Michelin inspectors." But he is not convinced they all have the same intentions. "I like Novelli's a lot, but it is not a pub," he says. "It used to be a pub-not anymore." Rayner cites Blumenthal's Hinds Head Hotel as a particularly good example of a pub. "He has the Fat Duck, which is famed for its modernist take on food. You go next door to his pub and it is a real pub. You have potted shrimps, steak and kidney pudding-real pub food done really well. So you have the mark of a chef who knows what he is doing but he hasn't tried to do anything other than run a pub," he says.

Marco Pierre White, on the other hand, hasn't carried it off too well according to Rayner. "For the pub formula to work it does still need to want to be a pub and you have the sense at the Yew Tree Inn that it doesn't necessarily want to be a pub," he says. "It is a bit bloody grand for my liking-nowhere near as good as it should be for his reputation."

Heston Blumenthal
The Hind's Head Hotel, Bray, Berkshire
Heston Blumenthal put the village of Bray on the world map in 2005 when the Fat Duck was named the best restaurant in the world. By then he had already taken over the picture perfect village pub, down the high street from the Fat Duck.

Being a pub, the Hind's Head Hotel is unlikely to attract Michelin stars and all the hullabaloo that goes with fine dining, but Blumenthal's village pub is arguably the most successful celebrity chef pub of them all.

It is easy to see why the Hind's Head has done so well. The tudor building meets everything you might expect from an English country pub—from the exposed beams to the solid oak bar and the low ceilings—and he has stuck to the classic British pub fare such as Lancashire hot pot, oxtail and kidney pudding, treacle tart and Eton mess. He has even brought along his famous triple-cooked chips from the Fat Duck. All served with the same sense of perfection diners familiar with Blumenthal's science-based gastronomy have come to expect. Even the critics can agree on this one—the Hind's Head Hotel very definitely wants to be a pub.
www.thehindsheadhotel.co.uk

Marco Pierre White
Yew Tree Inn, Highclere, Berkshire
White had good reason to bolt his name in huge letters on the wall of the Yew Tree Inn when he took over in 2005 and renamed it Marco Pierre White's Yew Tree Inn. His reputation comes with grand accolades and Michelin stars, so it was safe to assume that people would follow the name. And the Yew Tree Inn has been a resounding success. Whether it is really a pub remains unclear. White prefers to call it "an eating house".

At the launch of the Yew Tree Inn, White proclaimed his love for the pub and the menu lists British classics like shepherd's pie, roast chicken and sherry trifle, but he has also found space for half a grilled lobster. "We didn't set out to serve the finest food in the world," he said. "It is a neighbourhood restaurant that does good honest food."

Apart from the fish, which comes from the south coast and the beef from Scotland, White sources all ingredients locally. A keen hunter, he aims to shoot and serve the partridge, roe, woodcock and wild duck where possible, the marmalade comes from a lady in the next village and he has even enlisted a local florist to provide the flowers.
www.theyewtree.net

Mike Robinson
The Pot Kiln, Frilsham, Berkshire
Though less well known, Mike Robinson has had his fair share of TV exposure. He had his first pint in the Pot Kiln and when it came on the market in 2004, he snapped it up. The development of the pub was documented on UK TV Food Channel's Heaven's Kitchen and Robinson is also a regular on BBC's Saturday Kitchen.

The Pot Kiln is an old-fashioned, 300-year-old rural country pub. Located in the middle of nowhere, you are more than likely to get lost going there. Thankfully, the rewards for finding it make up for the tricky journey.

When Robinson says he sources his ingredients locally, he really means it. Some fish comes from the local Lodden and Kennet rivers and much of the game is shot by Robinson himself on his stalks.

The Pot Kiln dining room is more pub than restaurant with pine tables and benches and the menu offers a distinctly rural selection: game terrine, wood pigeon, pheasant and pork chops. There's a separate menu for bar food if you don't fancy a full meal at lunchtime. To go with your meal? A pint of Brick Kiln, brewed especially for the pub by the brewery next door.
www.potkiln.co.uk

Jean-Christophe Novelli
A Touch of Novelli at the White Horse, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
If Jean-Christophe Novelli's website is to be believed, he is planning a chain of 10 A Touch of Novelli gastropubs. The first, the White Horse in Harpenden, opened last year and another is due in Amersham, Buckinghamshire this year.

The White Horse was an instant runaway success and Novelli has put gourmet restaurants firmly behind him. "I want to bring informality to my diners in my cooking and my restaurants and cater for everyone in society, with or without money," he says. "I've had enough of charging customers over £100 per head." The inclusive prices presumably leave diners with the spare cash to fork out £10 for the signed and personalised menus.

This represents a return to Novelli's beginnings in Britain. When he arrived in 1983, he worked at Keith Floyd's pub, the Maltster's Arms in Devon.

At the White Horse, he says, his aim was contemporary fine dining in a relaxed environment. Crossing the boundary between pub and restaurant, the menu has a definite "fine dining" feel and might not have looked out of place at one of Novelli's old ventures.
www.atouchofnovelli.com