MasterChef: The Professionals runner-up Matt Healy to open Leeds pub

MasterChef: The Professionals 2016 runner-up Matt Healy has announced that the doors to his first pub will open in Leeds this week.

The Beehive will have a gastropub feel serving a menu, with the strapline ‘nowt fancy', of simple pub classics with a modern twist. Bar snacks will include Scotch eggs and pork pies with homemade piccalilli; starters will range from a ploughman's sharing board to French onion soup; while main courses will feature chargrilled sirloin steak and baked whole sea bass. Sunday roasts will be a specialty.

Healy said: "The Seventh Course team all love pubs, and the Beehive is perfect for our first gastro pub-style venture. Leeds has a shortage of high-quality destination pubs away from the city centre. Thorner is a beautiful village and easy to reach from the middle of Leeds, so we hope the Beehive will start to fill that gap, while also catering for the local community. We want the pub to be accessible; somewhere you can have a great meal with your family or catch up with your mates over a pint."

The pub will stock cast and craft ales as well as premium lagers, and an extensive selection of spirits and wines. It is expected to have a 40/60 wet/dry split in trade.

Dale Wynter, director of Seventh Course, added: "Our business is growing and we don't want to tie up capital in buying property at this stage so a leased pub is ideal. We'd heard positive things about Star in the trade and it's proving to be a good collaboration; they're flexible and very supportive plus we've appreciated being able to use our own designers and contractors. We'll consider more pubs with them but in the short term are concentrating on consolidation of our existing three sites."

MasterChef: The Professionals runner-up to launch Leeds restaurant >>