Collins, an experienced and award-winning publican, says he will be giving the venue a ‘MEAT makeover’ that will be respectful of the Victorian pub, the area and pub traditions. While the interior design is yet to finalised, he says it will follow the approach taken by the MEATliquor restaurants with an emphasis on food, service and atmosphere rather than an expensive fit out.
The pub will serve the full MEATliquor menu with the addition of fish and chips on Fridays, Sunday roasts, and bacon cheeseburger scotch eggs - a playful riff on the popular British bar snack.
It will open on 1 July.
In a post on Instagram Collins makes reference to the restaurant group’s genesis when it was started as the MEATwagon serving its now famous Dead Hippie burgers in pub gardens, as well as its three-month #meateasy residency in New Cross and a summer residency at The Rye hotel in Peckham.
The move marks the end of an eight-year hiatus from pubs for Collins, who has previously opened 15 pubs in the capital including two brew pubs and a craft beer pub, which was a precursor to the craft beer revolution.
Pubs included The Clarence in Balham, which was the recipient of the final Evening Standard Pub of the Year award in 2006 when Collins was in charge, and The Florence in Herne Hill.
He was also a shareholder in the 34-strong Capital Pub Company, which was sold to brewer Greene King in a deal worth around £95m.