MasterChef winner Mat Follas to move Wild Garlic to Hall and Woodhouse pub

Mat Follas owner of Wild Garlic restaurant in Beaminster, Dorset, is set to move the business to a pub, having struck a deal with local brewer and pub firm Hall & Woodhouse.

Follas, who won MasterChef in 2009, has been running Wild Garlic for four years. He and his team will open the new business at the Talbot Inn in Iwerne Minster in north Dorset from late May.

Follas said: "We've loved being in our home town of Beaminster, but it's time to grow the business and the Talbot in Iwerne Minster ticks all the boxes for what we are looking for. It has five great rooms that we can let and will have a seven-day bar & grill offering great Pub and Bistro food, as well as a separate space for running our increasingly popular courses in the daytime and an evening restaurant.

"Our customers have asked for more rooms, a more casual, family menu and I'll still be able to provide higher end food in our evening restaurant for more intimate and quieter dining. The big challenge is to provide all of these with the same, or better, quality and standards we've achieved to date."

The Wild Garlic will continue to trade from Beaminster until 18 May.

Follas opened the well-known restaurant on the site of the Pickwicks Pub in Beaminster in 2009. His restaurant quickly gained critical acclaim with 9/10 in the Telegraph (9/10) and 9.5/10 in the Guardian (9.5/10), as well as gaining two AA rosettes and recommendations in The Good Food Guide, The Michelin Guide and Trencherman's Guide.