Anchors away!
ANY PUB which, in its day, has doubled as a brothel, a brewery, a distillery, a chapel and a ship's chandler is likely to take the addition of a takeaway fish and chip counter in its stride.
The Anchor on Bankside, one of London's best-known and most historic pubs, reopened in June following a £1.6m investment by owner Spirit Group, the managed pub division of Punch Taverns.
The pub's location at the heart of the revitalised Bankside area of the South Bank - close to the Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe and the Clink Prison, has given Spirit an opportunity to develop a range of food and drink offers well beyond the 'usual' pub format.
All of these new elements have the potential to be adapted and developed for other sites in the 800-plus Spirit estate. The pub already had an all-day offer, opening up at 7am to provide breakfast for guests at the nearby Premier Inn. Now the customer base is much broader.
Manager Stephen Giudici says: "On the Sunday after we reopened we were getting 'walk-in' breakfast trade - and it's still increasing. There's a real demand."
To cater for tourists and office workers, the Anchor now includes a traditional tea room, named after former regular Dr Johnson of dictionary fame. This offers a classic afternoon tea - including sandwiches, scones and cakes - for £15, roughly half the price of a comparable spread in nearby Starbucks.
A connecting coffee shop sells takeaway teas, Fairtrade coffee, ice-creams and snacks to go.
The specially-built fish and chip shop offers traditional, freshly cooked fish and chips, battered on site, including cod, haddock, hake and hoki.
Fish, chips and mushy peas costs around £8 a portion. The takeaway menu also includes pies and sausage and mash, featuring a range of specialist sausages. Grilled fish is also available as a takeaway option.
Spirit head of food Paul Farr says: "We've worked hard to come up with a recipe and process that works in this historic pub setting.
"To see customers queuing up for a takeaway on the day we opened was a great moment. We've definitely got other pubs in the estate where we could add a fish and chip counter."
The food is cooked on a specially developed Florigo five-hand frying range, with the battered fish cooked in traditional beef dripping, giving an authentic chip shop feel.
Customers can take their food away or eat it inside the pub or in the newly refurbished outdoor area overlooking the Thames.
As well as a main dining area, with a menu built around quality, traditional pub food including pie and mash and a Sunday roast, there is a more upmarket restaurant and a private dining room.
The Anchor has extensive al fresco dining areas, with a roof garden complete with barbecue. In all, the pub offers more than 640 covers, and has some 75 staff.
Andrew Knight, managing director of Spirit Group, comments: "The Anchor is one of our most prestigious and historic pubs and we wanted to do something special with it.
"We've taken some of our most famous British offerings - fish and chips and afternoon tea - and given them a modern twist that will make the Anchor quite unique in the marketplace.
"It now offers something for everyone throughout the day, from takeaway coffee and bacon rolls in the morning, to a traditional fish and chip lunch, a cream tea or a Pimm's on the roof garden in the evening."
