Gastropub team's takes on second pub

By Lesley Foottit

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Red lion À la carte Tomato Restaurant

Black Bull: business going well
Black Bull: business going well
The team behind an award-winning Cambridgeshire gastropub has launched another outlet nearby. Owner of the Red Lion at Hinxton, Alex Clarke, has...

The team behind an award-winning Cambridgeshire gastropub has launched another outlet nearby.

Owner of the Red Lion at Hinxton, Alex Clarke, has bought the freehold of the Black Bull at Balsham eight miles away.

Operations manager Mike Champion said the new pub has a lot of "potential" and is undergoing extensive refurbishment. The pub is currently closed one day a week as new oak floors are laid. The five bedrooms will be refurbished and the outside area to the front and back are being renovated with new furniture being bought for inside and out.

When completed, the pub will hold 70 covers in the restaurant, 30 in the bar area and another 70 across the two gardens.

The pub should be ready at the end of June, with some jobs scheduled for January next year.

"The format will be the same as the Red Lion," said Champion. "We are keeping bar food and having a distinct a la carte menu as well to tick all the boxes.

"We are also looking at adding an internet lounge area as Balsham is an affluent town where people work from home. This will be about getting them out of the house for a coffee."

Business is so far going well with up to 70 people dining a day. As at the Red Lion, a number of regulars are invited every two months for a free food tasting with a drink to help devise the new menu.

Best selling bar dishes are steak and Guinness pie (£11) and beer battered haddock with handcut chips (£10) while the seared fillets of seabass with asparagus, a potato, rocket and cherry tomato salad and caramelised lemon dressing (£16) is the top seller on the a la carte menu.

Champion intends to do cross-marketing with the 5,000-strong Red Lion database. Local critics have been invited, local businesses have been informed and Champion has begun to take out advertisements to spread the word.

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