Tom Kerridge to open second pub in Marlow
Tom Kerridge, chef-proprietor of the two-Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers, has revealed details of his second pub, which will also be situated in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
Currently called the Coach & Horses, the Coach pub is expected to reopen in November and will seat 20 at the bar with further dining for 20. Situated in West Street, in the same street as the Hand & Flowers, it marks Tom and Beth Kerridge's first lease from Enterprise Inns.
The Coach will reopen as a "flexible, sociable and affordable" place to eat and drink, open from 8am each day, serving breakfast dishes such as full English, kedgeree, and smoked salmon and poached eggs. Customers will also be able to get breakfast on the go such as hotdogs and roasted bacon bagels. There will be a no-booking policy, and customers will order at the bar. "Everyone working in the Coach will be able to take orders," Kerridge told The Caterer.
"Pub operators have to make pubs compete with what's on the high street, and the offering out there is really good," he continued. "While we believe the Hand & Flowers is good value for money for the market it serves, it is a special place to dine. There's no point in opening a pub and moaning that no-one is coming in to drink at lunchtime; pubs have to adapt to survive, they have to be flexible and the Coach will be all about that."
The kitchen, which will include a rotisserie on display just behind the bar, will be headed up by current Hand & Flowers senior sous chef Nick Beardshaw. Beardshaw boasts an impressive CV including four years at the Hand & Flowers, and periods at fellow two-Michelin-starred restaurant Midsummer House in Cambridge, Kit Chapman's the Castle in Taunton, and Brinkley Village Resort in Methven, New Zealand. Kerridge and Hand & Flower head chef Aaron Mulliss will support Beardshaw with menu development.
Kerridge says the main feature of the pub "and perhaps the most poignant for reflecting the classical foundation of the Coach menu" is the rotisserie. Here, a selection of meats as well as the morning bacon will be "roasted in the traditional rotation style that is synonymous with succulent meat, thanks to it cooking in its own juices".
Other dishes on the menu will include moules mariniere with warm stout and brown bread, and whole rotisserie-roasted stuffed quail served at lunch and dinner. Kerridge also plans to woo the mid-morning snack or afternoon tea crowd with a cake of the day.
All dishes will be served as and when they are ready, ensuring a flexible dining experience, and will be priced between £6 and £15. While he was at pains to state the dishes wouldn't be tapas-sized portions, he did say the plates would be designed so that people could have one or a few.
Orders will be taken and served by all members of the team (barman, waitress or chef), which Kerridge says will allow for all of his team to be a part of the customers' dining experience.
The refurbishment of the property will see an eclectic design mixing modern and classical styles. Designed by Tibbatts Abel, a bold metallic kitchen counter will snake the entire room, bordered by upholstered leather bar seats. The Coach will also include small TV screens "dotted around the circumference of the room".
Commenting on the news, Stephen Folbigg, regional manager for Enterprise Inns, said: "We're delighted Tom has taken on the Coach. Given the well-deserved success of his other Marlow pub, I'm sure this latest venture will prove hugely popular and draw similar praise. As with all our publicans, Enterprise will work hard to help Tom achieve his ambitions for the Coach."
