Pieminster Pie Pub opens in London and Bradford
Pie manufacturer and restaurateur Pieminster has rolled out its Pie Pub concept to two more sites.
The Nellie Dean pub in London's Soho opened its Pie Pub space last month, while new pub the Brewfactory, in Bradford, is set to open its space in early 2015.
This will bring the total number of Pie Pubs to 11.
The Pie Pub concept "drops" a Pieminster-branded pub-restaurant into existing pub rooms. Pieminster designs the spaces and the kitchen, as well as all branded elements, but the pub itself retains ownership and/or operating rights of the building and space and runs it in-house.
Nellie Dean, whose space is called "Upstairs at Nellie's", is an Enterprise Pub site, while the Brewfactory site will be attached to the new Bradford Brewery microbrewery when it opens next year.
Pie Pubs sell Pieminster-branded pies of the same kind that are sold in its shops, restaurants and other retail units. It currently has 10 Pie Pubs, including in London's the Gladstone and St James of Bermondsey; the Raven in Bath; the King Charles in Worcester; and the Pie in Vinyl in Southsea.
The company also has 10 own-brand restaurants, including in Cardiff, Bristol, London, Stoke-on-Trent, Dublin and Amsterdam.
Pieminster has also been chosen as a preferred supplier for universities by the University Caterers Organisation and operates an outlet at Exeter University. In addition, it has a fully-branded pub operation within Bath Rugby Club, named the Swift Half.
Co-founded in Bristol by former publicans and chefs Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon in 2003, Pieminster was inspired by Simon's travels to Australia, when he realised that he had eaten better pies there than at home.
It first became popular via stalls at music festivals before being sold in the food halls of Harrods and Harvey Nichols, and opening its first shop in Oxford in 2007.
