Passing-out party

Hogarth's opened specially for lunch on Mother's Day and the restaurant was packed out. The occasion was too much for one customer, however. Andrew Davies reports.

Ian McLelland, chef-owner of Hogarth's in Bournemouth, is learning that restaurateurs need to be prepared for all eventualities. Coping with failing fridges and faulty freezers is no real test for him now; he has moved on to frequent fainters.

Although the restaurant is normally closed on Sundays, McLelland opened for Mother's Day lunch to a full house. The nature of the event meant a restaurant full of pensioners being treated by middle-aged offspring.

And although it was mid-March, the heat proved too much for one elderly lady who keeled over into her main course.

"I ran out to help her but by the time I got there she had come round," McLelland laughs. "Her family seemed completely unfazed by it. ‘Don't worry,' they said, ‘it happens all the time'."

Opening for the day added £700 to the March takings, on top of the usual £7,000 a month. Average spend for the month was £32.

"It certainly bolstered the income," McLelland says. "I had a VAT bill and a quarterly rent due, so I need that extra bit to stop me going into the red."

Hogarth's opened in late October last year and now, as spring arrives, the refurbishments are nearly finished. Gone are the Artex walls, tasselled lampshades and sticky carpets and in are stylish fittings, dark wood floors and smooth newly plastered walls.

McLelland can rattle off how much he has spent with the ease of someone who does his own accounts.

Top of the list is the £3,000 on 35 new chairs, then £2,500 for the wooden floor, £2,000 on the fridges and new shelving for the kitchen, £700 on crockery, £500 on plastering, and another £500 on new toilets.

"You'd better add another £1,000 under miscellaneous as well," he says, looking around him to see if he has left anything out.

As pleased as he is with the way things are going, he still has a mental list of what needs doing. He has had a quote of £2,000 to re-do the bar, £1,000 to double-glaze the back window, £600 to plaster the ceiling and £700 to work on the restaurant's fascia.

"There's always something else to spend money on," he shrugs.

This ongoing work is the biggest reason why McLelland has made no moves towards his personal goal of getting a Michelin star or AA rosettes, an aim he set out when the restaurant opened.

"I had all these goals when I opened and I still want to do them, but I need to finish the restaurant off before I contact Michelin or the AA," he explains. "I'm not even making my own bread or ice-cream yet and until I do that I'm not inviting them. I want two rosettes on my first inspection or it's not worth getting them down here."

He's happy with his food, though, but the niggling perfectionist tells him it could always be better.

"But from a taste and value-for-money aspect," he smiles, "this is easily the best food I've ever done."

Next visit to Hogarth's: 16 May

Hogarth's

173A New Road, West Parley, Bournemouth, Dorset
Tel: 01202 574769
Chef-owner: Ian McLelland
Opened: 22 October 2001
Seats: 30
Average spend: £32
March turnover: £7,700

The story so far…

Canadian chef Ian McLelland, 28, is realising his dream of owning and running his own restaurant, the 30-seat Hogarth's, in the Ferndown area of Bournemouth. Under the same ownership for the previous 12 years, the restaurant had built up a solid base of regular customers, and McLelland was keen to take it over as a going concern. There are alterations that need to made, however, if he is to achieve his goal of a Michelin star…