Open again this month after it closed in April 2015 was the Olde Cross Keys. It was on the market as a possible conversion to a private home. Dan Thomson, late of The Farmers and the Brookhouse Mill has it, with a little help from his parents.
It was on the market for£325,000 £300,000 £260,000 before being knocked down to £230,000. It probably sold for £200,000 to £210,000. Quite a bargain, then. But there've been conversion costs and the outside will need some attention.
We didn't sample a meal but they are competitively priced at around £11 to £15 for main courses. Veggie options are limited. But it's high-end stuff, because that's where the money is (and it just isn't worth competing head-on with the likes of Wetherspoon's. Thomson tried that at the Farmers).
Adding to the high-end feel, the bar and waiting-on staff were all smartly dressed in black shirts and trousers with a mustard apron and light mustard tie. In addition to the established restaurant, Thomson has brought the old barn back into use as somewhere to eat. He's brightened the interior, adding new flooring (laminated chipboard? Can't tell) and removed the blue stools and seats in favour of lighter, beige ones.
Plans, we're told, are to extend the barn, open a "meet-and-greet" eating area and develop the garden to include individual pods. The kitchen may move up a floor. This all assuming the place takes off.
One of the staff is pageant winner and now minor celeb Conor Dillow-Parlour, Mr Belle North West and entrant into the Mr Belle UK pageant. He's 17 and when serving looked a little nervous, fiddling with his lower lip and his hair.
Much more modern (and lighter) interior than previously
It was on the market for
We didn't sample a meal but they are competitively priced at around £11 to £15 for main courses. Veggie options are limited. But it's high-end stuff, because that's where the money is (and it just isn't worth competing head-on with the likes of Wetherspoon's. Thomson tried that at the Farmers).
Adding to the high-end feel, the bar and waiting-on staff were all smartly dressed in black shirts and trousers with a mustard apron and light mustard tie. In addition to the established restaurant, Thomson has brought the old barn back into use as somewhere to eat. He's brightened the interior, adding new flooring (laminated chipboard? Can't tell) and removed the blue stools and seats in favour of lighter, beige ones.
Plans, we're told, are to extend the barn, open a "meet-and-greet" eating area and develop the garden to include individual pods. The kitchen may move up a floor. This all assuming the place takes off.
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Pubs