Owners are ready to sell Ludlow restaurant
A Ludlow restaurant listed in the Michelin Guide for the past five years is to change hands.
The French Pantry has been a fixture in Ludlow's town centre for a decade, first as a delicatessen and later as a full restaurant.
The Tower Street venue's classic bistro food, overseen by French chef Olivier Bossut, has played a role in Ludlow's national reputation as a foodie favourite over the years.
But now owners Helen Melrose and Simon King have decided to sell up – though they are hoping someone will come forward to take up the baton and keep the business going.
The French Pantry employs 14 people and, as well as its Michelin Guide listings, also received a five-star Guardian review and featured in The Sunday Times top 100 restaurants in the country offering a meal for under £20.
Helen, 44, said: "The deli was here in 2007 and the restaurant from 2011. It's at its peak now really but it has been six years of working flat out and we want to move on to other things.
"We have got it to where we want it to be, we have run our course with it and we would like to hand it on to someone else.
"It would be great if someone would take it on to continue as the French Pantry with the ethos we have built up here."
She said they had young families they wanted to spend more time with, alongside independent projects they wanted to pursue.
Helen has recently opened Castle Street coffee shop Local to Ludlow HQ, an offshoot of the Local to Ludlow farmers market.
The current lease on the building runs until April 2021. A spokesman for the estate agents said: "The French Pantry has built up an excellent trade with both locals and people from further afield.
"Over the years Ludlow has built up an excellent reputation as one of the gourmet capitals of the country and The French Pantry is one of the finer establishments in which to eat. The business has an annual turnover of almost £250,000 and also shows a good net profit."
