The rise and rise of the gastropub
Gastropubs have the reputation for prioritising food above beer, but is that necessarily true? Ted Bruning reports
Heston Blumenthal’s got one, and so has Jean-Christophe Novelli, although he wants nine more. Gordon Ramsay’s got two. And Anthony Worrall-Thompson has just got his third. So it seems that buying pubs is all the rage for television’s top toques these days. But is it a good thing?
We’ve lived for some time with the fact that pubs can easily be turned into restaurants. Even if they’re tatty and need work, they still have the right armature – loos, kitchen, seating areas, serving areas, and so on; so the conversion job needn’t start entirely from scratch. In fact it’s even better if they’re tatty: it means they’re cheaper to buy.
In London in particular, the number of locals that have been turned into restaurants recently is infuriating to anyone who loves pubs and beer. So not a few hearts stopped when Gordon Ramsay announced that he had bought the Warrington in Maida Vale, a historic landmark that was once (they say) a high-class brothel, and another pub in Docklands.
The foul-mouthed one’s people insist he values his acquisitions as pubs and doesn’t plan to turn them into restaurants.
Indeed, I was myself honoured to be asked for advice on what ales the pubs should stock, so they’re obviously serious about it. Still, the Gordon Ramsay name makes it inevitable that the food offering is the main attraction, and the two must class as gastropubs. But hang on: what exactly is a gastropub?
Virtually all pubs, as we know, have to sell food of some sort these days in order to su.....
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By Ted Bruning
Section : Beer Trends
Page number : 22
