Strawberry's fare

09 October 2002 by
Strawberry's fare

Food-led pubs. Everybody loves them, it seems. Londoners flock to the Eagle, Yorkshire folk can enjoy the Angel at Hetton or the Michelin-starred Star Inn at Harome, and Lakelanders have the Punch Bowl Inn at Crosthwaite.

But will the concept work in North Shields, seven miles east of Newcastle? Is there really a market for quality food in a traditional drinking pub perched in a solitary spot at the end of a road that overlooks a mixture of industrial decay and regeneration at the mouth of the river Tyne?

"Not yet," admits Dean Eccles, head chef of Strawberry's@theDoll, the 50-seat restaurant-within-a-pub at the Wooden Doll, a Jennings brewery outlet. "But I'm beginning to build up a broad customer base. You have to tailor the food to the area you're in. The menu is very carefully written: if I use terms people don't understand, they won't come back.

"In London I could get away with calling a dish simply ‘pork rillette'. Here we call it ‘slow-cooked pork', and I make sure the front of house staff can explain to the customers exactly what it is."

At first glance, the Wooden Doll is an unlikely starting point for the 33-year-old chef's career as a restaurateur. It's quite isolated, it overlooks the rear of a disused (but recently listed) warehouse, and the dark panelling in the dining area means there's plenty of competition for window seats.

On the other hand, there's a big residential development planned opposite the pub, negotiations are under way with the brewery on the matter of a possible refurbishment, and the restaurant does have a spectacular view over the Tyne and the North Sea.

That view is one of the things that persuaded Eccles he had found the right pub for a serious food venture when he was approached by landlord Terry Mellor just after Christmas. At the time, Eccles, whose crowded CV includes spells at Pool Court, in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire, One Ninety Queen's Gate, in London, and Rhodes & Co in Edinburgh, was cooking at another local pub and looking to start his own business.

In the event, the two men struck a deal that allowed Eccles to move in and start cooking almost immediately, without having to raise any capital. Effectively, he is subcontracted to run the pub's food operation, and pays a monthly fee for the use of the restaurant area and the kitchen. He also pays for supplies and is billed for staff costs, calculated on an hourly basis, although wages are actually paid by Jennings. The pub pays for everything else, though it also takes the profit on all drinks sales.

This simple business arrangement meant that Eccles needed only £5,000 of personal savings - for a few additional items of kitchen equipment, new crockery and chef's whites - to launch the new restaurant at the beginning of February. Out went the microwaved bar meals. In came seared salmon fillet with caramelised Mediterranean vegetable couscous (£6.95), and warm strawberries with balsamic syrup (£3.50). Average spend is £7.50 at lunchtime and £12 in the evening.

And the locals are responding. Although Eccles says he lost a few of the pub's regular diners when he reopened - the die-hard fans of "traditional" pub-food such as chilli and lasagne - food sales have increased gradually over the past eight months. From about £1,400 at the beginning of February, weekly turnover now stands at £2,300. It's still not enough for him to be able to pay himself a proper salary, but it's well in excess of his break-even figure of £2,000.

Perhaps that turnover will take another leap forward when Strawberry's@theDoll gets its own external signage. At present, there's no mention of the restaurant among the various signs for the pub itself, but that is about to change now that Eccles has reached an agreement with the brewery.

Incidentally, how did he come up with the name? "It's an in-joke," he says. "I used to insist that my hair was strawberry blond, not ginger - and the nickname stuck."

Next visit to Strawberry's@theDoll: 21 November

Strawberry's@theDoll

The Wooden Doll, Hudson Street
North Shields, Newcastle
Tel: 0191-258 1235

Head chef: Dean Eccles
Opened: February 2002
Seats: 50
Initial investment: £5,000
Weekly turnover: £2,300

Adopted Businesses

Caterer has "adopted" a cross-section of hospitality businesses, which will be visited in rotation every six weeks.

They are: Epicurus at the Leather Bottle, Blackmore, Essex; the Cottage in the Wood hotel, near Penrith, Cumbria; Nottingham City Hospital; Percy's hotel and restaurant, near Okehampton, Devon; Strawberry's@the Doll, North Shields, Northumberland, and the Seafood restaurant St Andrews.

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