Brunning & Price reopens refurb

Brunning & Price, the gastropub operator now owned by the Restaurant Group, is to reopen an ex-Blubecker site, the White Hart in Sevenoaks next Tuesday (28 July) after a £400,000 refurbishment.

The venue is the first Blubecker that Restaurant Group has chosen to convert to the more traditional B&P pub operating style — industry sources suggest a few more could convert on the basis of how well B&P has been trading through the downturn. Graham Price, who is overseeing the refurbishment of the White Hart, said: "It will reopen as a classic, traditional pub with a real emphasis on cask ale."

Meanwhile, B&P has launched its own beer, which is being brewed by the Greater Manchester-based Phoenix Brewery.

B&P bosses sampled eight different tweaks of the beer before finding their perfect brew. The favoured ale has a 3.8% abv, a gentle and pleasant aroma with a fine dark gold/amber colour and a good creamy head that clings down the glass. Taste-wise, it has a malty, fruity sweetness and a long, rounded, but refreshingly dry finish.

A company spokesman said: "After much head-scratching, we came up with an original name, and perceptively called the brew Brunning & Price Original."

The beer will be mostly confined to B&P pubs in the north-west but will be trialled at the White Hart when it reopens.