Cumbria's Punch Bowl sold for £600,000

Chef Steven Doherty has sold his Punch Bowl gastropub in Cumbria to the owners of another noted Lake District pub-restaurant, the Drunken Duck near Ambleside.

The sale price of the Punch Bowl is understood to be about £600,000.

Doherty was head chef of London's Le Gavroche restaurant in the mid-1980s. He moved to the North England to open the critically acclaimed Punch Bowl in 1995.

Doherty took on a role last year to run the in-store restaurant of Windermere domestic kitchen equipment business Lakeland.

The company plans to expand its current 24 nationwide shops to 30 by the end of this year, with quality dining a growing part of the business.

The Windermere store has a restaurant seating capacity of 100 and is regularly serving 700 covers a day with a weekly turnover of £3,000.

Joint owner of the Drunken Duck Paul Spencer said the Punch Bowl would close for three to four months to have eight bedrooms added and a refurbishment of the restaurant and bar area.

Spencer added that the Punch Bowl would continue with the same high quality of food in the restaurant, but would develop a traditional British food menu in the bar area.

Buy this week's Caterer magazine for more industry news and analysis