Elite Bistros set to buy first pub in Cheshire

Gary Usher’s Elite Bistros is set to acquire its first pub: the White Horse in Churton, Cheshire.

Admiral Taverns has put the freehold of the 2,375 sq ft site up for sale with a guide price of £495,000. The pub did not reopen following the onset of the pandemic in 2020 after former licensees Dave and Jackie Biles announced the business at the time was “unsustainable”.

“We are in the middle of buying the White Horse pub in Churton but it’s not complete. I’ve always loved it there & it would be a dream for us to run it,” said Usher, posting on Twitter. He said an offer has been accepted on the venue and there was space upstairs in the pub for around five bedrooms.

“I’m absolutely aware how much the White Horse means to the community in Churton because like any good pub that’s who it’s primarily there for, the community, and anyone else who visits is a lovely bonus. If we get it I don’t want to rip it apart and change the way it looks. I love it.

“Our plans at the White Horse are pretty simple, we want to serve great drinks, delicious unpretentious food by a team that love what they do. I'm super keen to hear what the local community like.”

The pub will join the group’s sites including Sticky Walnut in Hoole, Chester, the first solo restaurant for Usher, which opened in 2011; Burnt Truffle in Heswall on the Wirral, which opened in July 2015; Hispi in Didsbury, south Manchester; Wreckfish in Liverpool; Pinion in Prescot; and Kala in Manchester, which opened in 2019. All sites apart from Sticky Walnut were crowdfunded.

Usher has also recently teased plans to open a new tapas restaurant called Joya and announced that the company is seeking to raise £2m by selling shares to strengthen the business, create a new brand within it and open three further sites. Usher said on Twitter the group has got its "eye on a few sites" for the Joya concept, which he hopes to launch this year, and plans to sell a retail range of Elite Bistros' red wine gravy.

The winner of the 2021 Restaurateur of the Year – Independent Catey said the Crowdcube raise would launch on 4 April.

Last year, the group also crowdfunded the launch of an event catering business.