August Update

It's August, if you hadn’t noticed. For some, a time of rest, of sunshine and holidays. The kids are off school. I remember as a child being taken to Italy for our summer holiday / visit to mums family; cousins and aunts seemingly everywhere, unusual and daunting for a small boy used to a small and quite insular upbringing. It suited me fine. As it does now. One of the most striking observations I remember was how little seemed to be going on other than people holidaying, relaxing, and generally doing very little, other than eating, there was always food and the preparation of it which included daily visits to shops and markets.. My uncles, albeit still working, those that were not farming, were on building sites, but whatever it was they were finished by midday, ready for the fist large meal of the day before the compulsory siesta. Later in life, as a believe it or not, air conditioning salesmen, I was still bemused at how much Europe shut down for August, clients screaming at me that they needed such and such an air conditioning unit asap, and thinking I was pulling a fast one when I said well that’s from Italy or Spain, we will have to wait until September, when the factory is back. Fast forward another couple of decades and as I wander the streets in the morning invariably on my way in to the restaurant and arts space, I notice how quiet it is, the streets, the trains, and wonder whether ironically with us no longer being “European” we’ve decided that an August shut down was a nice idea after all.

For us here at the restaurant, it is an extremely quiet time, almost non existent business, as many of our loyal regulars leave for, if not the whole month, several weeks. Last year we decided to close for two weeks to give the whole team a break. This year, with much of our team naturally moving on, and a growing interest in our arts and antiques offerings we have decided to close our kitchen operations for August, other than a special pop up over the bank holiday weekend and literally as I prepare to publish this post we are preparing for a special food offering this weekend, 10th, 11th August. Elaine is currently shelling seven kilos of borlotti beans. Keep your eyes peeled to our instagram and website for updates, but we will remain open seven days a week for our excellent coffee, teas, cold drink selection, beers, natural wines and of course Elaine’s cakes.

As we do not anticipate hoards of people we will be using the time for a small kitchen revamp, as usual with any commercial kitchen things need replacing, we will take a good look at our menus for the coming season and add a new chef to our small team to see what else we can conjure up to entice you from early September. An omnipresent feature of Pritchard and Ure in its many guises as we rapidly approach our tenth anniversary are the excellently sourced ingredients we use in our food and drink and the support we give to the equally excellent and inspirational suppliers we buy from and the life line they often provide to their growers, producers and farmers both in the UK and abroad, mainly Europe. Quality, natural, and ethically sourced ingredients and the preparation of them into tasty and wholesome plates has always been the ethos of Pritchard and Ure and this will never change. However, the art and antiques collection that Vicki has been painstakingly curating over the last year has been noisy enough for us to take notice and so any changes we make from herein will be born from how we carefully and cleverly curate the space we have for the mainstay of our offering, the food and drink, but also the art, antiques and one off home decorative items that we showcase and sell and which are making more and more sense as to the place they hold in the unique and holistic nature of our space. The art items that we sell and fill the space with are cut from the same cloth of dedication, passion and love of craft as the ingredients we source and the food our kitchen puts on a plate. It totally fits and our challenge now is how to weave this together for it to not only make more sense to a growing and discerning clientele but to be appreciated and imbibed to the point that it has an effect, that it creates peace and provocation for our souls and minds. We like to think that we feed you in all ways possible.

This is to say that throughout August expect the unexpected, come along and see what delights Vicki has found, keep up with our journal and social media to see the developments on the food front and if you’re around, about to, or back from your break, pop in to say hello. Despite the almost ghostly quietness of the centre, we are here, ready to share what we have and taking, as well as a little rest, the time to develop further the immersive and total sensory experience that we constantly create for you.