What do you do when your local pub closes? Persuade your friends and neighbours that it would be a brilliant idea to lease it yourselves and run it as a community venture, of course.
“It’s been a bit like Clarkson’s Farm,” says chief organiser Gerard ‘Ges’ Tempest, who, along with six others, embarked on the refurbishment and opening of The Foundry Bar & Kitchen, formerly the Red Lion pub in Thames Ditton, which had been operating as Mediterranean bistro, Ditto until it closed in February 2023.
“Everyone offered to help – neighbours, friends, passers-by. There was a real sense of recognising we had an opportunity for a different kind of offering in the village – a female-friendly pub/restaurant with great food that would offer employment to local youngsters. We had volunteers scrubbing floors, clearing the garden, and reupholstering the chairs. We even had a King’s Counsel cleaning the drains!”
Having leased the 170-year-old venue from the landlords Wellington Pub Company, Ges and the team decided on a new name – The Foundry – after the historic bronze works that operated nearby from 1874 to 1939, producing some of the UK’s finest statues, including the giant Peace Quadriga statue that sits atop the arch at Hyde Park Corner. A reminder, says Ges, of the heritage and history of a village with a tight sense of community.
In the kitchen
At the helm are two established culinary pros: chef Lawrence Keogh, who ran the kitchen at The Wolseley and opened paean of classic British food, Roast in Borough Market, and Andrew Pengelly, front of house and beverage director. The aim was to create a welcoming all-day vibe for local families who want to be able to walk to a decent eatery for a freshly made pizza or a crispy chicken schnitzel, as well as groups of friends – school parents, dog walkers (this is super pooch-friendly) – popping in during the day for coffee and a cheese toastie.
The surroundings
This lovely old building lends itself easily to such a mix, with its two open fire snugs, an airy orangery-style dining room, and a walled garden with heaters. On a Wednesday evening when I visit, there’s a nice buzz from a dozen or so diners.
Many are tucking into pizzas. Lawrence inherited a stone pizza oven, and although he hadn’t planned on a pizza-based menu, he’s turned freshly made dough and fior di latte mozzarella into a big draw for diners and takeaways with eight options (£10-£16.50), including a fiery house special Fonderia, with nduja and Napoli piccante salami, and a vegetarian, truffle-topped Tartufo with chestnut mushrooms.
What's special?
So far, it’s pretty much what you expect from a decent pub bistro – quality hand-made pizzas, tasty looking salads and truffle chips. But the specials menu has the tang of something rather more exciting: Devon crab claws, Irish oysters, seabass in olives and capers, and a four-hour pot roast beef (Sundays).
It’s a short, surprisingly varied menu that turns out to be full of splashes of seriously good food.
What we ordered
We opt for king prawns in garlic butter (small £10.80, large – to share - £21) with sourdough from the local French bakery and a superb burrata sprinkled with truffle and honey and served with heritage tomatoes (£9.50).
So tasty are the tomatoes that chef Lawrence brings out a crate of fragrant heirloom varieties to show us what he’s working with – crazily shaped deep red, orange and black fruit. He slices and serves a mid-season bright red Azure for us to savour the taste.
Then, from the kitchen comes a plate of chorizo in honey – Lawrence is now on a roll, bounding out with things for us to try.
His enthusiasm is infectious: ”I want people to come in for a plate of the very best Irish oysters and a glass of champagne or a pastrami and pickle toastie – and for them to say that was the best they’ve tasted.”
His seafood is sourced from the Wright Brothers: the prawns are plump and tasty, and the garlic sizzles perfectly. We follow with sea bass fillet, served with capers and olives and Jersey royals (£24) and an unexpectedly complex vegetarian dish – mushroom and Beluga lentil stroganoff (£14.5), which has an intense, toasty paprika heat that is wonderfully meaty, but overfilling for someone who has now ploughed through all the extra bread, tomatoes and chorizo.
Favourites
Every Sunday, there’s a roast, but the fly-through-the-door dish here is the chicken schnitzel with gluten-free breadcrumbs (“it makes it light and crispy”) served with fries (also gluten-free) and green salad for £20. Lawrence's truffle and parmesan fries (£5.50) have also gained something of a following. A side dish of regular fries (£4.80) comes with optional curry sauce, which as a Northerner makes me very happy.
Puddings include white chocolate crème brulee with frozen summer berries (£7), warm salted caramel sticky toffee sponge pudding, a jug of cream (£8), and an absolutely delicious range of vegan ice cream (I can highly recommend the rhubarb and raspberry ripple) at £3-7.50.
Final thoughts
For a local pub run by seven friends to serve this kind of food at such affordable prices is exceptional. Not only do Lawrence’s decades of experience shine through (before Roast, he was head chef at Terence Conran’s Quo Vadis and Bluebird, then WestStreet Restaurant and The @venue), but his passion for quality ingredients and his ability to communicate this enthusiasm have not gone unnoticed. He’s a regular on TV shows such as BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen Live and UKTV’s Food Market Kitchen and has hosted many large consumer food shows, such as BBC Good Food Show Live and Summer Time Kitchen at Hampton Court.
Enthusiasm is at the core of this project. And it’s a real pleasure to see it doing so well. I’ll be back to try the schnitzel and fries!
The Foundry Bar & Kitchen is located at 85 High Street, Thames Ditton, Surrey. KT7 0SF.
Opening hours vary, typically Tuesday-Saturday 11 am - 11 pm; Sunday 12 noon - 10.30 pm.
For reservations and enquiries, please visit www.thefoundrythamesditton.com, call 020 8143 8436 or email hello@thefoundrythamesditton.com.
