Simon Rogan opens second restaurant in the Lake District

Chef Simon Rogan is to open a new restaurant and bar in the village of Cartmel in the Lake District, just minutes away from his Michelin-starred L'Enclume.

The move comes after Rogan's plans to launch a restaurant in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, fell through after the project became financially unviable.

The new restaurant, Rogan & Co, will be a 100-seat informal eaterie that will be spread over two floors, housed in what was previously an antiques shop. Interiors will be similar to L'Enclume and will combine classic and modern elements.

Set to open in early April, the restaurant will be a brasserie-style operation with a menu built around British and French classics.

Originally, the head chef at Rogan & Co was to be L'Enclume chef John Bradshaw, who died of a heart attack last month. A replacement has not yet been appointed, but Rogan hinted that a former L'Enclume chef could well return to Cartmel to head up the kitchen.

Rogan said that part of the reason for setting up the new restaurant was to finance the further development of L'Enclume. "The overheads of running L'Enclume are really high and we need a second source of income to be able to push it on," he told Caterer. "We're revamping the rooms at the moment and are extending the kitchen space and conservatory."

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By Kerstin Kühn

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