Daniel Clifford, chef at the two-Michelin-starred Midsummer House restaurant in Cambridge, is to launch a gastropub in Essex next year.

Leased from Punch Taverns, the new venture is located in Great Warley, near Brentwood, and will open in January.

It will have an extensive bar menu with sharing platters and produce from local suppliers.

Clifford is setting up the venture with business partner Russell Morgan, chairman of Midsummer House owner the Crown Group.

Morgan said they hoped to have a number of gastropubs in the Essex and Cambridge area eventually, "in recognition of the way things are moving".

"Daniel is very happy with the way things are going at Midsummer House but he wants to take this opportunity to move into the pub market," Morgan told Caterer.

Under the plans, the pub project will also incorporate a training facility for chefs hoping to make it at Midsummer House, he added.

Clifford himself will remain behind the stove at Midsummer House - which is to undergo a major £250,000 refit to open up its kitchen to view - after the pub launch and will appoint a head chef to look after day-to-day cooking at the new project.

By Chris Druce

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