BCOT chefs to reopen Crown (From Basingstoke Gazette)

BCOT chefs to reopen Crown

11:10am Saturday 26th February 2011 in News By Emily Roberts, Chief Reporter

TWO former Basingstoke College of Technology (BCOT) students are looking forward to reopening a village pub that has been shut for seven months.

Tom Wilson and Chris Barnes are planning to reopen The Crown in The Street, Old Basing, on March 13, after refurbishing the interior and creating a new menu.

The pub, owned by Enterprise Inns, has been closed since August 2010, and was taken over by the two friends when Chris’ father took on the lease in January.

It mysteriously closed last summer and has remained shut since, with the front windows boarded up for several months.

Chris, from Whitchurch, said he and Tom, aged 25, from Winchester, have been sourcing suppliers and will use local ingredients in the new menu.

He added: “It will be a food-led pub. We have quite a few strong chefs in the kitchen. We’re going to tap into the lunchtime trade. It will be simple food that’s cooked well with the emphasis on quality. We still want to keep it as a local pub.”

The 26-year-old took a BTEC national diploma in hospitality supervision in 2001, before studying for a national diploma in kitchen and larder in 2002, both at BCOT.

He then carried out work experience at a restaurant in Amsterdam before working in the kitchens at Lainston House Hotel near Winchester. Chris was then offered a position at Michelin-starred restaurant JSW in Petersfield.

Tom took the same course as Chris at BCOT, but was in the year below. After finishing college he went to France for three months to work in a kitchen and then joined Chris at Lainston House, where he stayed for five years.