Set to open later this month, the previously vacant, Grade-II listed pub building has received an 18-month refurbishment from The Phillimore Estate, after business partners David Holliday and Alex Sergeant – of Sergeant & Holliday Pub Co Limited ‒ acquired the free-of-tie lease.
The pub will house a 75-80 cover restaurant, plus a large terrace, bar, and snug areas.
Typical dishes will include smoked eel tart with rhubarb and celeriac; fallow deer with crisp potatoes, black cabbage and mushroom ketchup; and desserts such as lemon tart with Jersey cream, and a selection of British cheeses.
Bar snacks will include home cured treacle salmon, pigeon rissoles, and homemade venison Scotch egg. All ingredients are as locally sourced as possible, and all game will come from the Estate.
There will be exposed beams, green tweed curtains, a wood-burning stove, oak tables and mismatched chairs, plus armchairs inside. A beer garden will allow guests to eat outside in the warmer months.
Holliday and Sergeant met while working at the Harwood Arms ‒ the only Michelin-starred pub in London. Holliday was general manager from 2009-2010, and Sergeant from 2010 until last year.
Holliday was also the former head chef of the Pot Kiln country pub and restaurant in West Berkshire, and is an advisor and investor to Natural Blender, a subscription-based smoothie ingredients business. He previously created David and Oliver, a game based food company that sold in national Waitrose supermarkets, farm shops, and delis.
Following his time at the Harwood Arms, Sergeant has been working as consultant manager at the Hurley House Hotel in Berkshire.