Chef Tom Kerridge’s Coach pub in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, opened earlier this month. Jo Bruce spoke to him and head chef Nick Beardshaw about the concept
Concept
The focus at the new 40-cover pub is on flexible, informal eating and drinking, featuring great food, quality, interesting drinks and sport. The site has an open kitchen with eight chefs and will be open from 8am daily. Some dishes on the menu may change each day.
Kerridge said: “This is quality, ingredient-led food, but accessible for everyone throughout the day. Wetherspoon pubs are open all day and are making the most of the footprint they have per sq ft. So the Coach is basically a Wetherspoon but with a rotisserie and a team from the Hand & Flowers.”
Beardshaw added: “The number of pubs now with Michelin stars says something about how dining is changing. People like the standard of food but the informal environment is more what people are going for and why the number of pubs with Michelin stars is growing.
“We are embracing that and taking it a step further.”
Both the front-of-house team and chefs will take orders and clear plates from diners who sit at the bar’s 15 stools. All chefs will also have training on the tills.
Menu focus
The menu has been developed by Kerridge; Aaron Mulliss, head chef of the Hand & Flowers; and Beardshaw, who has worked as sous chef at the Hand & Flowers for more than four years. Two sous chefs from the Hand & Flowers have also moved over.
Beardshaw said: “The menu features smaller plates and is based around what we do at the Hand stylistically. It is modern, classic French/British. Everything is ingredient-led, so ingredients are treated very simply, looked after and served very simply. Standards are the same as at the Hand, but dishes are less complex, with fewer components.”
He added: “We will change the menu according to what produce we have and market changes. It is very flexible. Things will come and go seasonally. There might be six portions of something and then its gone. Things will come and go all the time.”
The menu will also feature produce from the Hand & Flowers kitchen garden in Marlow.
Big on rotisserie
The Coach, which is an Enterprise lease with 10 years remaining, has a big focus on rotisserie cooking.
Beardshaw, said: “Rotisseries are a big feature and will be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We are doing a whole side of honey-glazed smoked bacon and are cooking sausages on there for breakfast. Moving into lunch, we will be cooking big joints of meat on it and stuffed quail — cooked to order.
“We are also cooking whole vegetables on it, such as whole roasted celeriac and trays of pomme boulangère, which will collect all the nice juices from the meat.”
Beardshaw researched the Coach’s menu at top restaurants including the Waterside Inn, in Bray, Berkshire, which features a rotiserrie and at London’s Le Gavroche, which has a new kitchen, to see how they are adapting their classical cooking techniques on modern equipment.
He also went to Paul Bocuse brasseries in Lyon. He said: “We wanted to see what the French are up to on their rotisseries. They are doing whole joints and carving it, and when it’s gone, it’s gone.”
Not chasing awards
Kerridge, who holds two Michelin stars at the Hand & Flowers, said he will not be chasing awards for the Coach. He said: “We all have a standard we want to achieve. If awards come along, that would be amazing, but first and foremost it has to work as a business. For me, it feels more positive in terms of it making a high street pub work and that is the most important thing.”
Televised sport and news
The Coach features five small, muted Sky TV screens.
Kerridge said: “Sport in here is a huge thing. We embrace sport in this country and we get massively behind it. We are really proud of what we achieve as a sporting nation. But football can kind of alienate everyone — it becomes lots of blokes around a screen shouting and getting drunk and then when the match is over they disappear, leaving the pub empty.
“Why is football seen as that? We will show football, but in an environment that is food-led.”
Screens will be on from 8am with news channels including BBC News 24 and BBC World News.
No bookings
The site has a no bookings policy.
Kerridge said: “The Coach is predominantly for the people in Marlow who want to come in for a coffee and bacon sandwich. Lots of people are worried there will be queuing. But I can’t imagine people queuing outside on a cold winter’s night.”
He believes because of the “pacy and vibrant” nature of the concept and customers having small plates rather than three-course meals, people will be in and out quickly with a potential to serve about 200 covers on a Saturday.
He added: “Maybe there will be queues but wouldn’t it be great to see people queuing to get in to a British pub. It would be brilliant.”
More Coaches?
Kerridge said: “If it works, there is a possibility that a version could be rolled out. Do I want to do it? No, I don’t think so.
“Everything we have done here could be done on a smaller scale, and cheaper with a different offering, but the concept could work. If someone came along and thought it was a great idea and saved 100 high street pubs in the next 10 years by doing this concept, that would be amazing. But there is no plan for me to open another one.
“The reason why we set [the Coach] up is a growth of people. At the Hand & Flowers, we have surrounded ourselves with amazing people that have grown with us.”
Pubco relationships
“I have no issues with working with pub companies. You have room for negotiation because they are big businesses, you have space to talk to them about rental and spending money. From our point of view so far, it has been an incredible working relationship with Enterprise.”
The Hand & Flowers, which is a Greene King tenancy, celebrates 10 years in 2015.
He added: “It is the same as my relationship with Greene King. It has been phenomenal. I view them as business partners.
“It is a partnership we go in to, we work alongside them. It is the same as working with a meat supplier, or a veg guy or a drinks supplier.”
