Blumenthal buys pub near the Fat Duck

Chef Heston Blumenthal has acquired the lease on a pub across the road from his three-Michelin-starred Bray restaurant, the Fat Duck.

The new business will open in October, and Blumenthal told Caterer exclusively that the new operation would serve traditional British food.

"I'm not going to turn it into a gastropub," he said. "We've got a simple wine list, some decent beer and some proper British dishes like potted shrimps, smoked prawns, pea and ham soup and steak and chips."

Blumenthal has also worked with historians from Hampton Court Palace to adapt historical British dishes such as stargazey pie, syllabubs and possets for the modern palate.

Dominic Chapman, son of Somerset-based restaurateur and hotelier Kit Chapman, will head up the kitchen.