A CHEF who was one of six finalists selected from hundreds of entries for a Gordon Ramsay scholarship is cooking up a treat at a newly-reopened Bacup pub.
Simon Riley, 27, who is a chef at the Old Mill Hotel, in Ramsbottom, has designed a menu of traditional, home-made pub food, with a twist, for the George and Dragon, in Rochdale Road.
Mr Riley was also one of three budding cooks shortlisted for Young Spanish Chef of the Year in 2008.
He will be working along- side his mum, Sue Bridge, the assistant manager at the Rose ’n’ Bowl, in Stack- steads, who reopened the freehouse last Friday. Mrs Bridge has realised her dream of running a restaurant with her family by becoming the manager of the George and Dragon.
Her other son, Matthew, will be managing the bar, and her youngest, Ben, will also be helping out.
Mrs Bridge, 44, said: “It’s really exciting.
“It’s been a dream of mine to run a place of my own, and it’s so nice to be able to do it with my family.
“We opened on Friday and were so busy over the weekend that we ran out of beer twice.
“People were saying to us that this was the best pub in Bacup before it closed, and have been say-ing ‘thank you so much for opening it again’ to us.”
Mrs Bridge is renting the pub from businessman Phil Eagen, who rec-ently bought the pub, and also owns Bootleggers, and the Cross Keys Hotel, in Burnley.
The pub will serve ‘good- quality, traditional home-made food’, and a selection of real ales and beers.
The decor has also been refurbished in a modern style.
It will also host DJs, karaoke, and live bands, in the future.
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