Member Article

Blackburn brewery take on The Ship pub at Caton

A family of North West pub landlords have invested £65k in The Ship in the Forest of Bowland village of Caton as they take on the tenancy.

Bowland Village Inns are now looking to invest a further £30k on a new kitchen for the pub, having taken it over from Blackburn-based Thwaites Brewery.

The family run business has installed new manager Tom Lister, who has worked for the company for five years and previously oversaw the extremely popular, award winning Punchbowl Inn in Churchtown.

He will be assisted by Louise Beaumont and Barbara Holloway, who are both residents of Caton.

Working alongside this new management team will be new head chef, Gareth Parker, offering diners a new menu of mouth watering British classics created with locally sourced produce and sumptuous deserts. All of which compliment an excellent range of wines and beers.

Steven Greenhalf, director of Bowland Village Inns said: “The Ship has a long history as a popular dining destination, and we’ve been interested in bringing it in to the Bowland Village Inns family for some time. We feel it is the perfect fit with the rest of our portfolio.

“We’ve invested heavily in the new kitchen as we have ambitious plans for the future and are looking forward to working with Thwaites to bring those to fruition.”

Carolyn Matthews, area manager for Thwaites said: “We approached Bowland Village Inns about taking over the tenancy of The Ship as it has a great reputation for developing country pubs and we know they will be able to realise its full potential

Bowland Village Inns runs a number of public houses, as well as the Lancashire Golf Club’s wedding brand under the Ashton Hall name, and operates all the catering at Thurnham Hall.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .